Flipped
by Katoptris9
Summary: Cordelia Faye Black- fem Harry potter did a ritual and went into an alternate universe and is now the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy in 1942. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Harry seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Meets Tom Riddle. Romance, fantasy and Powerplay. Increased to M to be safe. UPDATING!
1. Prologue

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension/time travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in from other fic writers that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

4) I know Rowling has given a different Black family tree and lineage for Harry Potter in canon but I am using it to my convenience.

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue** ** _"_**

* * *

 **Prologue**

 **Cordelia's POV**

She opened her eyes, batted her eyelashes and closed them again. She felt the silk sheets beneath her in her hands and felt a soft mattress underneath. Her eyes snapped open again. Her vision was perfect, she did not require glasses. She glanced down at herself, she was clad in silk pajamas. She carefully got up.

The room was humongous, twice as large as the dormitory in Gryffindor and she was sitting on a Queen sized bed. It was a beautiful room, done in purple, cream and black. One wall of the room was a complete bookshelf and the one opposite to it had two doors. She checked them out. There was a huge bathroom through one, eerily reminding her of the Prefect's bath and the second door led into a walk in closet.

At the head of her bed was a large window, she opened it and found a picturesque view of mountains and by the side, there was a door that led to a balcony. She turned around and noticed the black couches around the bookshelves which surrounded a hearth. The last remaining cinders of the wood were still burning orange in the hearth.

" _Cordelia Faye Black"_ she tested her name on her tongue. She was the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Black nee Malfoy. Their images came to her mind. Random facts assaulted her and she picked and chose the ones she needed to know immediately. She was currently in France in the Black Chateau. Her father was a ward master who came to France to apprentice under one and fell in love with her mother and stayed on in France after the completion of the mastery. She attended Beauxabatons because her mother wanted her too and she had turned 14 about 3 months ago.

All her possessions as Juniper had been added to the life of the counterpart, including the invisibility cloak and all the books and clothes. She cracked a smile, the beauty of parselmagic.

She entered the bathroom and her eyes fell on the 'floor to ceiling' mirror. She was way taller than June had been when she was 14. She had ivory skin, red lips and long, silky and wavy Black hair that went past her waist. She looked pretty much the same but somehow more delicate, refined, aristocratic. She looked taken care of. She looked more similar to her 24 year old self, albeit a lot younger. The Black features were very prominent except for her glowing green eyes.

She kept taking notes of the facts that came to the front of her mind and decided to take a quick bath.

She dressed herself in a plain silk robe as she was ruminating on her family.

She stepped out in the room to approach the hearth when the door to her chambers swung open slowly.

"Corrie dear, how are you feeling? Are you still sick?" Adelaide Black's soft voice asked. 'Corrie' was overwhelmed with the rush of love she felt for the women in front of her, her mother in this dimension. " _Sick! Of course, this body must have also felt the lash of the pain that the ritual promised."_ Cordelia quickly thought though her face betrayed nothing. "I am absolutely fine now, mother." Her voice sounding too soft. She realized a moment later that she sounded like Adelaide Malfoy, her mother. She obviously had traits from both her parents of this dimension. It just must be one of that.

Her mother looked doubtful. She almost gilded over to him. He walk was very graceful. Cordelia found herself pinned with a gaze over her visage. Adelaide gently touched Cordelia's forehead and Cordelia basked in the warmth that her hand offered. An overwhelming wave of affection towards the woman assaulted her again. No, she was not just a woman but her mother. She quickly reminded herself.

"Your fever seems to have come down, but come along. Healer De Blanc must be on his way." Her mother tugged on her hand and pulled her along to wherever she was taking her. The two of them walked along a lavish corridor.

" _Healer De Blanc, their family healer."_ He seemed to dote on her. In fact, everybody dotted on her. This felt serene. She couldn't help but smile blissfully.

She found herself in the family parlor. It was ostentatious but still homey.

She turned to her mother after feeling a bit guilty for worrying her, "I am okay, mother. It does not hurt anymore and there is no need to pull Healer De Blanc from his work ..." But she was cut off very adamantly, "Nonsense, I will have nothing befall my precious daughter."

Suddenly, the fireplace flared green and a tall man stepped out of it. He had brown hair which were graying here and there and he had a small smirk tugging at his lips. Cordelia did not even bat an eyelash at the familiar expression. All purebloods had their own versions of the smirk or a smug smile.

 _"_ You gave your mother quite a bit of scare, Cordelia. And dare I say, it worried me and Antony as well." He spoke in a different language. Corrie realized that it was French and that she understood it perfectly.

"I do not see the reason to worry, Healer De Blanc. I feel normal. The pain was fleeting at the most." She replied back in French. Her counterpart was quiet but naturally charismatic and charming.

"I will be the judge of that. May I, Madame Black?" He gave an inquiring look to her mother.

She nodded.

He gestured for Cordelia to sit on the squishy armchair. He cast many diagnostic charms and refrained from touching her too much.

"Nothing seems to be remiss. Everything is as it is supposed to be. This is a bit unnerving but I cannot pinpoint the cause of the pain." He looked worried, then he looked directly at her in the eyes, "Cordelia, I cannot emphasize the importance of you immediately letting me know if such an incident of pain occurs. I will research but since we do not know the cause, it is better to be very alert and prompt rather than having to regret it later. I know you have a habit of downplaying things by thinking that you are being bothersome but this is not to be taken lightly."

"I will, Healer De Blanc." She gave him a small assuring smile. Her soft voice tinkling.

"Rest assured, I will make sure that she does." Her mother looked worried.

"Mother, I am perfectly fine. Healer De Blanc has a habit of sounding ominous. That is not to say that I would not be cautious, but Healer De Blanc, you best reassure my mother of my sound health, lest she worries herself more than is necessary." She quietly requested to the Healer in her soft, musical voice.

Healer De Blanc and her mother both chuckled at the layered demand in her request.

"Miss Black, as she put forth, is perfectly fine. I merely advised to be alert so as to be cautious. I do not see any cause of worry." The Healer finally gave his acquiescence.

He left through the fireplace.

"Get Ready Darling, remember we are heading to London! Your father and I will be waiting in the dining hall." Her mother beamed.

"Yes mother. I remember, how could I forget that Cousin Lucretia is coming of age?" Cordelia beamed back. The answer coming to her.

She trailed off to her room, remembering the way from her counterpart's memories.

* * *

She realized that the year was 1942 and that Voldemort was still Tom Riddle and attending Hogwarts and would start his 4th year. That was good, that was what she had intended. But she was attending Beauxabatons . That would not do now, especially since she had seeped in the body. She needed to convince her parents of this dimension to let her attend Hogwarts. Her father would not oppose it. He had always wanted her to attend that school. Her mother spoiled her rotten. She felt a bit bad but decided to cash on that. She would not be denied attending Hogwarts.

She realized with a start that the time was not kind to women in general but even then everybody loved and adored her. She was given much leeway because she was a powerful child who was born on Beltane with magical reserves double the size of most wizards in their prime and they had only grown since. She had been blessed with the tongue of serpents in her first year as a baby. Cordelia was glad, she would have missed parseltongue.

She was also very adept at family magic. That was new, not something that was a part of the dimension that she came from. The old families had totems, seemed to be made of molten metals but were actually pure magic and they were partial to her presence.

If her counterpart's memories were anything to go by, she would witness the Black totem tonight. Nonetheless, she was adored for her ethereal looks and perfect and advanced magical prowess. She had already read and practiced the school curriculum up to the NEWTs. Her father had even started teaching her a bit of warding which she had picked easily considering her talent in runes and Arithmancy. On top of it, she knew everything that she had learned as Juniper Potter. She may very well ace the school. She decided to arrange the memories after the visit to London. It was a good thing that Potter had mastered the art of Occulumency post war to deal with the nightmares and that Cordelia had been no slouch and practiced the mind arts as well. She shook herself out of her thoughts and entered her enormous wardrobe and picked out an evening gown of Cobalt Blue with some platinum jewelry. It accentuated her ivory skin nicely. Apparently her counterpart, unlike Juniper, paid attention to the clothes she wore as well. It hugged her bodice on top nicely before flaring down a bit. She wore a serpent shaped bracelet in her hands that had Sapphires for eyes and sapphire earrings and a choker in her neck.

After taking care of her appearance, she made way to the dining hall where her father and mother were already seated.

"Cordelia. You look stunning." Her father smiled at her, getting up and planting a kiss on her forehead, "I do hope you are feeling better now, I was called on urgently by the Ministry and only returned a few minutes ago. Your mother filled me in."

"I am fine, Father." She blushed.

"Come sit." Her mother smiled, she was herself dressed in an exquisite gown.

They were eating breakfast quietly as was the usual routine when she interrupted, "Mother, Father, I wish to request something."

They both gave her questioning looks. It must be important if she was bringing it up. Though charming and witty, Cordelia preferred the quiet.

"I wish to attend Hogwarts from this year." She looked them right in the eye and stated determinedly.

"Are you unhappy at Beauxabatons, Dear?" Her mother raised a delicate brow.

"No mother, I am quite partial to it, in fact. But Hogwarts, it is just that all my cousins attend there and I have heard a lot about it from Father and them." She explained politely but passionately.

"What brought this on now? Why not earlier?" Her father asked. He was genuinely curious and not discouraging in any manner.

"I guess I did not want to be a bother." She lightly shrugged and said in a small voice. Looking down at her plate to avoid eye contact.

Her mother grasped her hand indignantly, "You, my dear, can never be any bother." Then she smiled indulgently, "In fact, those who know you well would claim that you are incapable of it."

"I will owl the school once we reach London." Her father smiled at her, "You know I have always wanted you to attend Hogwarts."

They Flooed to the Black manor which was the Black ancestral home. It housed the head of house, who was his father's elder brother Arcturus Black. He had three kids; Orion, the Black heir and Sirius' father in the other dimension who was the same age as Cordelia; Dorea, Juniper's grandmother in the other dimension who was two year older than Cordelia and Alphard, Sirius' favorite uncle who was a year younger than Cordelia.

 _ **(Refer to my author page for a detailed family background).**_

The other branch of family that would be present had two girls and one boy. Lucretia was turning 17 and was Sirius' first aunt, Walburga was Sirius' banshee mother who was a year older than Cordelia and Cygnus, who was not in school but had recently turned 10. They lived at Number 12 Grimmauld place.

In fact, it was just her parents who perhaps had not felt the need to have a male wondered why that was.

A house elf greeted them," Welcome Master and Mistress! Willy welcomes you to the Black Manor . Everyone is in the family ritual room."

There would be the ritual where family magic would bless Lucretia followed by a quiet family luncheon followed by a society gala in the evening with every pureblood worth its dime in attendance.

She realized her counterpart despite being a Black was not bigoted but she did enjoy the society gala. It allowed her to study and observe people.

She entered the Ritual room after thanking the elf, trailing behind her parents. She noticed everyone look at her appreciatively. She just smirked inwardly.

Orion and Alphard and both her uncles came and kissed her knuckles and she curtsied back diligently. When Cygnus came, he looked so adorable that she gathered him in a hug and tussled his hair a bit, "You grow more adorable and handsome as the time passes, cousin. " She teased.

Apparently, she got along well with all the males and Dorea. She was on cordial terms with Lucretia. It was just Walburga whose company wasn't much liked by her. All the elders liked her as well as she was the little Miss 'perfect' Black. Out of her two aunts in attendance today, Ariel was good natured and though Cassiopeia was a bit like Walburga, she was the better version of it. Arcturus and Pollux both respected her, because of her sheer magical strength and beauty. Her beauty, she internally sighed. Her beauty was apparently the talk of the entire magical world. She was considered the most beautiful girl to ever walk the halls of the palace of Beauxabatons, and considering Beauxabatons held several generations of Veela as students, she was really considered unique.  
People were automatically attracted to her, enchanted with her, without her even speaking a word. It was at times compared to a Veela's allure. However she had dark hair, black as a raven, the typical Black feature and of course, no Black would resort to marrying a magical creature **.**

She shook herself out of thoughts when her uncle asked everyone to create the ceremonial circle. She placed herself in her position, beaming at her aunts. Arcturus and Lucretia stood in the middle.

"By swearing on the Black Family motto, Toujours pur, I invoke the family totem,

By swearing on mother magic, both dark and light, I invoke the family totem,

On the occasion of coming of age of the daughter of the house of Black, I invoke the family totem and request it to bless the daughter. So mote it be." Arcturus Black spoke clearly, then muttered softly, "Familus Magicus."

"Familus Magicus," all intoned softly.

A Runespoor appeared out of nowhere but everybody was surprised when instead of going to Arcturus, it appeared before Cordelia. It bowed all its head in respect, " **What would the mistress want us to do?"**

 **"You honor me by giving me a title I do not beget! I would have you do nothing, my great serpent. It is my uncle who invoked you. It is my sister's coming of age, she needs your blessing."** She responded back softly in parseltongue.

Involuntary shudders went around the room.

 **"As you wish, my lady, but the blessing would be stronger if you could bestow it with blood on her along with me."** The totem responded **.**

 **"As you advice, my dear serpent."** She curtsied to it. It began to climb on her dress and wrapped itself around her torso with its three heads coming from behind the shoulder.

"Your Naga gift has shown itself." Her father said it as a statement.

"It seems so." She said lightly," My apologies Uncle but it seems that the totem could not resist the presence of a speaker. It wished to convey a message." She looked at him expectantly.

Everyone was looking at her contemplatively.

Arcturus nodded.

"He wishes to give her a blood blessing, with me as the invoker." She said carefully, looking at their expressions.

Everyone gasped.

"Why should we believe you?" Walburga sneered.

The Runespoor hissed at her menacingly.

"Careful Cousin, the magic does not approve of your doubt." She said calmly, without rising to the bait.

"Stay put Walburga. This is not a matter for you to meddle in." Arcturus snapped. Pollux looked at his daughter disapprovingly.

"Mother, Father, it will not harm me. May I?" She reassured them and asked for permission.

Adelaide looked a bit worried before it but one look at Cordelia's confident countenance and her husband's visage had her convinced and she nodded.

Cordelia approached the dais. She chanted a few phrases in Latin and taking the ritual dagger made a tiny cut on the tip of her small finger and let two small drops drop down to the ritual bowl which caught a red fire and turned into a swirl of magic and went inside Lucretia's heart. The Runespoor flew and flicked his tongue over Lucretia's Head, bowed to Cordelia, swirled around her and disappeared in a swirl of magic.

Cordelia's eyes glowed green for a while. Then, they were a swirl of colors before glowing green with power once more and slowly returned back to normal.

She curtsied to Arcturus and then murmured to Lucretia, "Congratulations, cousin," and then returned to her place by her parents' side. Her face was glowing but her expressions were composed.

Everyone else looked dazed.

Arcturus Black chanted, " Lucretia, the daughter of the House of Black, you have been thus blessed by the family totem, may you always bring honor to the family motto. Toujours pur."

"Toujours pur!" The rest of family murmured back.

The fire around the ritual bowl died down.

Everyone relaxed and at once looked at Cordelia.

Her mask betrayed nothing but she leaned towards her parents and her mother quickly had her locked in an embrace.

"Cordelia dear, I must thank you for blessing my daughter as such." Pollux said formally.

"And I must request you Uncle to not put me on a pedestal, I did what family magic advised me was prudent." She replied with a small, shy smile.

"Nonetheless, it was a feat worth lauding. Considering your family magic affinity, I think it is prudent to disclose that you may end up as the Lady Black and the Heir apparent instead of Orion." Arcturus said without any venom in his voice.

"As much as I loved being able to converse with the great serpent, I believe the honor of bearing the family name should be cousin Orion's. It is not fair to him to be stripped off the title on my account. I simply am not worthy enough to…"

"Nonsense, cousin. If you are thinking that I might be envious of you, then you fail to see the affection that I bear for you. You are more powerful. We must do what benefits the family most. It is not like I am being thrown out and I am but a couple of months older than you in the physical sense. You far outsmart me in any other sphere. It is in favor of family, even the familial magic dictated so." Orion said bashfully.

"Hear, Hear." Alphard smiled.

"Dear, what have I told you? You must never be so modest about your great gifts. To think that one of our lines has been blessed with Salazar's tongue." Cassiopeia Black fussed over her.

"Parseltongue is a fairly common trait among the colonies, my dear aunt. Indians and Greeks specifically have an affinity to it. It is rare but not all together unique." Cordelia corrected her aunt, still not doing away with her small smile. She noted that all the Slytherins still going school had a sort of tension in their shoulders. " _They must be thinking of Riddle_ ," she thought. " _He must have bound them in an oath of sorts otherwise they would have revealed his status to the family_ ,"she realized.

Dorea chuckled lightly, "You dear sister, never fail to be charming and yet have the foremost knowledge of everything."

"This does not leave the family. It is an honor, whether you take it so or not Cordelia, but an appropriate time to reveal certain truths is to be kept in mind. I leave the decision on you Cordelia, about when you feel safe enough to reveal abilities since you have always demonstrated that you have a good head on your shoulder. But I must ask you, all of you to be cautious. We do not want you to come under Grindelwald's radar. He may be a 'dark' lord but mindless killing and forceful propaganda is not helping the cause of dark side in anyway. We will refrain from being active in his shenanigans. Is that clear?" Arcturus instructed everyone.

Everyone nodded solemnly. Walburga may not like her, but even she bowed down to the head of house and pure logic.

* * *

It wasn't until late in the party that she heard the name Riddle again. Her cousin Abraxas (from her mother's side) and Orion were whispering furiously. She collected that they had sent Riddle an invitation and that he could not make it due to his accommodations. She could not hear more as her father pulled her aside to inform her about her acceptance in Hogwarts. She was surprised but apparently her immaculate academic record was enough. Though she was sure that the names of Black and Malfoy carried a lot of weight as well.

She grinned. She was on the other side of the spectrum now, a dark witch, born out of two families that she thought were bigoted fools. She realized that wasn't so. They were tender when they should be. They loved and cared too. Truthfully, Orion wasn't all that bad. Sure, a bit pompous and snobbish but that came with the money and social standing they had. And even she was a snob by those standards. The ill will towards muggleborns was for them being responsible for accosting the wizarding traditions, Samhain, Yule, Beltane etc.

In fact, it was the light that was bring oppressive by trying to ban an entire faction of magic called the dark arts. Cordelia was not naive. As Juniper, she had realized that a lot of magic was dependent on intent. Dark was not evil, it was just hard to control and not everyone could manage that. So, people were trying to label it bad by just equating it with evil.

Well, she would take the wizarding world by storm.

* * *

It was late in the night when she reflected on the Riddle situation, lying in between her silk sheets. Her conclusions raised in her mind.

He was a boy her age, in a way, younger than her since she was 24 when she did the dimension travel. Physically she might be 14, but she was 24 mentally. Riddle had not done anything that she could blame him for. He was not Voldemort.

There was a war in muggle Britain, a world war and Riddle…Tom was forced to live in an orphanage. Church was very powerful and wizardry was considered unnatural. He may be ostracized, even exorcised and what not. The possibilities were endless. An abandoned lonely child. Did Dumbledore not see that? Of course he did not. He was never too attentive about the individual needs. He had to protect his image by continuously opposing dark, repenting for his sins with Grindelwald. It was likely that an 11 year old kid from a muggle orphanage became his punching bag. It was perhaps Dumbledore who created Voldemort, just like he created 'the girl who lived' and 'the chosen one'.

She would give Riddle a chance, a real one. She would pull him back, because she in a way, understood. With that thought, sleep embraced her.

* * *

 **This is an edited version of the chapter. It is not perfect, but it will have to do. I will be doing something similar for all chapters in the coming weeks so, be patient.**

A/N: **This is for all the people who shy away from Mary Sues. I know it appears like one and to be honest, I thought Cordelia would be one. But she is not a typical Mary Sue. She has issues that range from anger to stubbornness to a lot of different things that appear later in the story. She will struggle, she will falter, she will cry and she is going to be a human just as much she will try to maintain the façade of perfection. Just wait till you have read all interludes before you pass judgement on her characterization. It is a story and it has some suspense and mystery. If I reveal everything in one chapter, that would be a ghastly summary. The pace should be natural.**

 **So, before you leave me any ghastly review about my character being a cardboard cutout, consider this note.**

 **I welcome criticisms as long as they are justified. I take them into account very seriously. In fact, the idea of interludes came from one person who suggested that I needed more back story for Juniper.**


	2. The Eyes Have It

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue** ** _"_**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: The Eyes Have It.***

 **Tom's POV**

There was an unusual chatter among the Slytherins today. Tom noticed it as he settled on the Slytherin table in Great hall. He had noted the same on the train ride too but he had ignored it in favor of being able to do magic again. Blacks and Malfoy had an air of anticipation around them. He quietly observed that even Longbottom looked gleeful. It was unnerving. Won't his followers tell him if something was to be expected?

He threw Abraxas a questioning look.

"My and Orion's first cousin, Cordelia is transferring from Beauxabatons to Hogwarts, my lord. She will be in our year." He swiftly informed, "We were banned from speaking about it from her father and our family heads up until now. She never took the train."

"And why has that resulted in all you acting so…brazen" Tom trailed off." And why the need for secrecy?"

"She is fairly renowned my lord and well liked among the pureblood circles. She…She will be a sight to behold." Abraxas said carefully.

Tom understood that he wasn't allowed to say beyond that but Tom became contemplative.

Another Black and Malfoy progeny could be useful to the cause,

But he also thought about the other details Abraxas gave. They told so much...and so little.

He was shaken out of his reverie with the shadows dancing behind the high table. His eyes narrowed.

"What house do you think Cordelia will be sorted in?" Tara Rowle began.

"She will be a Ravenclaw, her love for knowledge is astounding." Alphard beamed proudly.

"May be not cousin, She is at times too nice…" Walburga chuckled.

"She seemed like a Hufflepuff to me. What with her quiet demeanor?" Evan Rosier added.

"A Black in Hufflepuff, you jest, Rosier." Lucretia said pompously.

"Cousin Corrie is a Slytherin through and through. The fact that no one here can predict her indicates to that." Orion shook his head at all of them.

"I agree with Orion." Abraxas said, eying all of them, "Cordelia is a Slytherin,"

The sorting of first years had almost come to an end.

"We have a special circumstance this year, a transfer student from Beauxabatons, Please welcome Ms. Cordelia Faye Black. She would be starting her fourth year here." Dumbledore said with his usual twinkle in eyes.

The shadows parted and stepped out the most beautiful creature that Tom had ever laid his eyes on. Her everything was just right, not just right, and perfect, no, beyond perfect. But what drew him in was her eyes, a glowing green like emeralds.

She was elegant. She almost glided across the floor instead of walking. She was far more graceful than any pureblood in Hogwarts, more elegant than even him.

There was great commotion in the Great Hall. The elite purebloods seemed to have recognition but yet they were awed by her. The others too were whispering, giggling, pointing…

She came to the front, curtsied to the Professors and then to the general audience. All her cousins acknowledged her with a tilt of their heads. Then she bowed to the hat and softly asked, "May I?" but it was heard throughout the hall.

The teachers were eating it up. Such manners, such courtesy. Even Dumbledore looked happy with her and he, in general, was a bit careful around Slytherins. She was not a Slytherin yet but tradition dictated that a Black would go to Slytherin just like Lucretia had proclaimed. The others were idiots for even thinking that a well, respected pure-blood heiress from a long line of Slytherins whom everyone respected would be anything but cunning.

The hat looked amused and it inclined its top to say yes. She gently took him in her arms and placed him on top of her head and sat on the stool. She smiled a bit. Tom wondered what the hat said.

"SLYTHERIN" The Hat called out a few seconds later.

She again with great care and gentleness removed the hat from her head and graciously handed him over to Dumbledore and thanked him. Then again curtsied to everyone and glided towards the Slytherin table and came and sat in between Orion and Abraxas.

"I thought you would go to Ravenclaw cousin." Alphard was disappointed.

"Do I sense disappointment there, cousin?" She smirked at him, her voice melodious.

"Of course not, Alphard just does not like the fact that he did not peg you correctly. But he was at least not far off as Evan here, he said you would be a Hufflepuff." Dorea smiled at her.

"Strange..." Her sly smile was intact.

"Ha, told you...Cordelia is a Slytherin through and through…" Orion looked smug.

"Of course, you did cousin. You would say that simply because you could not stand the thought of me being anywhere else." She raised a brow then she threw a quick smile at Abraxas, "Abe, I am sorry I could not make it to the train. You know how Mother worries. She wanted Father to drop me till Hogwarts which he did. But if all is well, I am allowed to take the express with you all at Christmas, which I have been told we are celebrating in Britain this year. I am hoping for a white Christmas." Riddle was drinking in her voice, she did not have the French accent, but there was a strange tingling in his body as she spoke. He noted that the others felt it too but her cousins seemed to be used to it.

"Of course, Corrie. Aunt Adelaide's worry over you does not need any elaboration." Abraxas responded with a same easy smile.

She waved to a few more people at the table. She knew Rosier, Tara, Aimee Parkinson and quite a few others. Renatus Lestrange seemed to have some something against her.

"I am afraid that I don't know you." She addressed him softly and with a tinge of formality just like she addressed the purebloods.

He contemplated about whether he will have to demonstrate his power and show her her place as well after she looked at him in disdain for being a halfblood or mudblood.

"My apologies, I did not mean to offend you." She added just as softly as before. Her voice was music and silky, a tad bit more than his and her bright green orbs did not help the situation.

He shook his head," Apologies from me Ms. Black, I was thinking. I am Tom Riddle." " _And here it comes._ " He thought.

Nothing happened. She gave him an easy smile and proceeded to say," As you perhaps know already, I am Cordelia Faye Black. I remember Oree mentioning you a few times. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise, Miss Black." He returned with a small smile. His mask in place and inside, he was furiously thinking about how in the world she did not call him names? Every pureblood in Slytherin had until they saw him speaking parseltongue.

He threw Abraxas a questioning look. Abraxas shrugged, helplessly.

" _She deserves some attention_." He decided in his head. He would wait and watch.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

Next morning, Cordelia woke up early as was her routine. After everything was done, she looked at the time. Breakfast would begin in a few minutes.

Slytherins had a single room per person. It was a fairly large room, though one-eighth the size of her chambers in the Black Chateau with a huge four-poster bed in the center. The window was completely glass and had the water of lake as the view. It was eerie and mysterious. She loved it. She had brought a three compartment trunk for regular use. One library, one walk in wardrobe and one storage room that contained everything from her potion ingredients to her broom to everything else.

She took in her surroundings one more time and then went down to the common room.

She was about to step out of the common room, when she heard a soft, silky voice,"Ms. Black."

She turned around to find Tom Riddle, "Good Morning Mr. Riddle." She greeted him, "I was just going to the Great Hall or trying to anyways. Father and my cousins described it enough, I thought I should be able to find my way but if you are going that way, I would not say no to some guidance," she requested him.

He nodded.

" _He is so sinfully handsome with those ebony hair and those midnight blue eyes and sharp, aristocratic features and high cheekbones. But there is this something, something dark about him that coats his very being._ " Cordelia mused.

"If you don't mind me asking, why did you transfer?" He asked as he led the way.

"Beauxabatons is nice, I am partial to it but it seems a tad bit frivolous to me, if you know what I mean. I went there as my mom wanted me too, but my entire family attends here and well if I dare say, I missed all of them. As annoying and overbearing they are, I am quite fond of them." He could sense her smile.

"So how are you finding Hogwarts?" She prompted.

"It is exceptionally gratifying but, at times, the classes hold some people back ..." He replied quickly.

"In what sense since I compared coursework. Hogwarts is a little advanced than Beauxabatons." She queried.

He gave her an assessing look. She raised his brow. He did not enlighten her.

"Here we are Ms. Black."

"Ah Mr. Riddle and Ms. Black. Early I see. Good...good."Dippet beamed. They sat down quietly. She did not make any more attempt at conversation, neither did he.

"Corrie!" A voice called out to them in a few minutes

"Ian..." She stood up and hugged Sebastian Longbottom, her other cousin with a beam.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

When she said that Hogwarts was advanced, he knew that she was probably not worth his time. She was just that, a looker. She did not have the pureblood arrogance. On one hand he was pleasantly surprised that she did not discard him just like that for having a muggle surname. On the other, he thought of her as a weak minded muggle loving fool.

He stopped his conversation with her there and then. She was nothing special.

Then he saw her with Longbottom. Hugging him. In the great hall. He almost sneered.

She excitedly chattered with the Gryffindor while the rest of Slytherins came.

She happily said goodbye to Sebastian Longbottom and made way back to her breakfast.

"What electives are you taking Cordelia?" Abraxas asked.

"Arithmancy, Ancient Runes and Care of Magical creatures. I also put in a request to study healing over the weekends. The Mediwitch will teach me on all weekends except for Hogsmeade. The muggle studies curriculum is way behind and Divination could not fit into my timetable." She chanted in a monotone, buttering her toast.

"Muggle studies?" Walburga rose her brows.

She did not answer but just gave another of her smiles.

If Tom was any less dignified, he would have rolled his eyes.

"Here are your timetables Mr. Riddle, Ms. Black, Mr. Black, Mr. Rosier..."Slughorn came and began distributing timetables.

" _We have Transfiguration first, Oh joy, Dumbledore."_ I clenched my fists and quietly left.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

" _I had riddled Tom Riddle. He is so confused about me. After the morning display, he had likely discarded me as not being of any use to him. Well, classes will change that. Thankfully, I have had a lot of time to settle my memories and merge both my identities and now I can use both my sides to live a life."_

She had sworn not to hold back, between her future self and current prodigious self, she was quite an accomplished witch. She was also very lovable and smart, and had good instinct and reflexes, with an immensely large magical core and aura.

" _Well I cannot use my aura until my magical maturity, shame, it would have been interesting to watch Riddle's reaction to it."_ Random thoughts trailed inside her head.

She made way to Transfiguration, trailing behind Orion and Abraxas.

She beamed at Professor Dumbledore, who twinkled his eyes and took her place.

They were transfiguring large falcons into huge pots.

It was an easy task considering falcons were not mammals.

Dumbledore explained bits, which she tuned out. She could do this in her sleep.

 **Tom's POV**

Riddle was trying to tune out Dumbledore. The material in the class was not exactly new for him. He had managed this transfiguration at the end of his first term in third year.

That was when his eyes fell on the newest addition to their year. He was baffled to see that she looked bored too, a tad bit more than him.

As soon as Dumbledore finished his lecture, she glanced around and almost lazily waved her hand and completed the transfiguration.

" _So she is not a complete Neanderthal! But_ _she said that curriculum here was better_?" Tom Riddle was momentarily confused.

But then he looked at his Falcon and realized that the newbie had beat him at being the first to complete the task. He waved his hand elegantly and transfigured it. It did take a slight effort. His magic was rusty after living with those distasteful muggles.

Dumbledore did not note it. He was busy helping out Hufflepuffs.

After becoming satisfied with his work, Tom resorted to watch her once again. She was flicking her wand, changing the color of pot but then one of her smiles came on her face, and she gently waved her wand in a complicated knot of sorts and softly muttered something. The pot turned into an intricate piece with carvings over it. It looked like snakes and something else. She watched it with interest and then again waved her wand in a flourish with a look of mild focus and the carvings began to move. Her face split into a grin.

" _She animated the carvings. Impossible! Animation is not taught until the near end of fifth year and it is basic at the most_." Riddle thought furiously.

Riddle had tried his hand at it. He could do it, albeit with a little effort. But the fact was this chit seemed to have same magical prowess as him.

Dumbledore noted it and raised a brow. "Twenty Points to Slytherin... I dare say I have not taught animation yet."

She glanced at him, her grin intact, "I taught it to myself, Professor. It is not all that hard."

"Indeed, Ms. Black, my class will not be much of a challenge to you in that case." Dumbeldore pointed out.

"Oh no, Professor, I am sure I will learn something all the same, but I would appreciate it if you could allow me to utilize one-half of the hour to read up ahead. Transfiguration only, of course." She hopefully asked, making her green eyes bigger.

Dumbledore thought for a moment, then nodded.

She had played him and he had believed in her sincerity.

Riddle narrowed his eyes, " _Who was this girl?"_

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

" _Dumbledore allowed me to research ahead. This means that I can find more about this metamorphmagus ability that Juniper had and Cordelia seems to have too. And I can research on animagus too."_ Several possibilities went through her head.

She could feel Riddle's eyes on her. She was just too sensitive to his presence to not figure it out. She had to help him, but that meant she would have to get him to spill some secrets, which was easier said than done.

It was in the evening that an interesting conversation happened. Abraxas and Blacks collectively informed her about the Slytherin hierarchy with Tom Riddle at the top, since he was the heir of Slytherin, direct in line and well he was magically too powerful. Everybody seemed to be wary of him. Orion and Abraxas worshiped him. Walburga was a bit perturbed by his muggle origins, Dorea was a bit skeptical about him and Alphard seemed to think that he was a bit mean and Lucretia seemed to defer to him but otherwise lacked an opinion.

She shrugged at them indifferently but subtly reminded them to keep her parseltongue abilities under wrap. It went without saying that her other abilities were not supposed to be revealed as well.

Her cousins loved and adored her so they would not betray her and even Walburga was tied down by family loyalty.

 **Cordelia's POV**

She was sitting down in the common room, quietly listening to Alphard's chatter with Anastius Zabini while reading one of the rare Egyptian tomes from the Black library on warding.

Her completed Transfiguration essay and Arithmancy research paper outline lay rolled in front of her.

Tara Rowle and Aimee Parkinson sat around her, lightly gossiping.

"We need a seeker. Burke is too large for the position now. Even Flint thinks so and they are mates."Anastius said passionately.

"But there is clearly no one here to take the thing. Marius is too ...I don't know. The first and second years aren't as good, they need more experience. We don't have any guy." Alphard said miserably.

"You can always try women, you know." Cordelia said lightly.

Anastius slouched his arm and looked at her contemplatively.

"Is there some kind of rule that you cannot ask girls to play for Slytherin?" She arched her brow delicately.

Her soft words had piqued interest, even Tom Riddle was looking at her.

Cordelia Black's opinions mattered a lot in the circles so all the seniors were looking at her.

"Skirts in Quidditch field, Cordelia! We are civilized women, we do not play some sport!" Walburga sneered.

Cordelia did not even spare her a look, "Your assumptions tire me at times Burga. Not all women are preening peacocks that are waiting to be wedded and bedded. I am sure some women here do enjoy a ride on broomstick! But perhaps Slytherin is unique in some ways that I do not want to know. Farewell." She said, picked up her tome and left to her room. Silence pervaded everything as she left. Her tone had not lacked the music, but her words were sharper.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

Tom Riddle looked intrigued. She was nothing he expected.

He looked at Orion questioningly.

"She looked unconcerned about the hierarchy, my lord." He whispered softly.

"Of course, she did. I did not expect any less..." Alphard scoffed.

Riddle glared at him.

"She is fiercely independent, my lord, but very courteous. She never said a word against you. I don't think she would. She does not let authority affect her but she never has been careless about it. She would not do anything. That is what Alphard meant. "Abraxas quickly said.

Riddle still looked murderous.

Just then, Cordelia walked in on the tense atmosphere, she was reading a letter and she was clad in a Slytherin green nightgown that hugged her slender figure. Every male eye in the room roamed over her tantalizing silhouette. She looked up at the tense silence, her eyes immediately flicked to Riddle, then followed back to Alphard, and her lips curled into a smile.

The common room watched in anticipation.

"Mr. Riddle, it is terribly rude to talk behind somebody's back." She casually said fixing him with a look. Her green eyes were unreadable but her small sly smile was still teasing him, "And Alphard, as much as I admire your loyalty, you should realize and learn how to articulate yourself properly. One does not want to send the wrong message." She looked at Alphard.

"I will leave you to convene." She said and picked up a roll of parchment from where she had been sitting.

Tom Riddle's glare intensified but he did not say a word.

She looked at him with mild interest and gave her usual smile, turned around and left.

" **Well, you officially have my attention, Ms. Black**." He hissed in parseltongue, and took pleasure in how the rest of the room shivered. "Dismissed." He said meaningfully.

She did not seem even slightly intimidated by him. She had not dismissed him but she had not kowtowed to him as well. As if she was evaluating him. Just like he was. She seemed unusually perceptive and observant, almost matching him in the abilities. He now understood why she was so popular in the pureblood circles. She was mysterious and yet charming. She had the loyalty of his inner circle and respect of the rest of the house. They did not say anything but he knew. Thus, she was also a threat should she choose to oppose him.

Charismatic, she had the trust of Dumbledore and in the astronomy and Arithmancy lecture in the day, she had the professors hanging on her every word, whenever she did chose to speak. Otherwise, she seemed to prefer the quiet but she was not afraid of voicing her opinions. She was extremely pleasant at the exterior, much like him, all he had to know was her facade and motives. She was quite adept at magic and lessons, far advanced in the subjects, with such insightful and meticulous questions and she got a pass to read ahead in every single class, because it barely took her any time to finish up the tasks set aside. He should have thought of that, asking permission to read ahead.

She was challenging, for the first time in Hogwarts, he was at par with somebody in something and he liked it. It gave him anticipation. He was assuming that the day's performance would follow up in the rest of subjects. Her cousins, though loyal to him, found themselves unable to tell him anything apart from her being a prodigy. Family magic was truly unique. He was still researching in the possibilities of him accessing the Slytherin totem. He had to first find the chamber, though.

Riddle shook away his thoughts and climbed up to his room, determined to find his legacy.

* * *

 ***= The title of the chapter is taken from the name of a short story by Ruskin Bond.**

 **To all those who followed and favorited, thank you. Your support means a ton. The Prologue was a test run of sorts. I have the story planned in my head till their 5th year's Christmas and I have things written till Christmas 4th year. I will most likely not abandon the story because I do not like people who abandon stuff. But I am in College and things are hectic so the updates might come a little slowly or shorter than what the initial updates might be like. I was thinking that I will keep Saturday evenings as the day and time to update, unless I update it early in the week. Let me know if you have other ideas or questions, whether to the update or to the story. Thanks again.**

 **ALSO, the family tree of Cordelia is on my profile.**


	3. Cordelia's Flight and Tom's Fright

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) This is a gender bender. I will bend gender roles like clay, considering it is based in 1940s. :D

4) Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue"**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Flight and Fright**

 **Tom's POV**

It was Defense against the dark arts. Professor Merrythought had again asked him to give a thought about joining the dueling club. He charmingly turned it down. He did not want the whole school to know about the extent of his abilities just yet. But he was distracted. He wanted to see how the newest Black did in the class.

She performed the spell in one single go. He felt oddly satisfied.

She was given the invitation to the dueling club as well. She politely said that she would think about it since she was still settling in the school.

What happened next was not something that he could have predicted. She went on to help other Ravenclaws with their spell, to be exact, a mudblood, Evelyn Adler, being perfectly polite and all smiling. Even Adler looked at Cordelia like she had grown an extra head, but accepted the help. Adler still looked wary though.

" _A Black that did not care about blood. She got more interesting by minute_."

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

If DADA was surprising, then Care of magical creatures was downright shocking.

Tom was not looking forward to it, they shared it with the loud and brash Gryffindors who had no subtle and sophisticated bone in their body.

They were studying Hippogriffs today. He was not very fond of animals except for snakes. But he still aced the class.

It seemed that the animals were not infallible to the charm of Cordelia Black as well.

The hippogriffs looked a bit vicious so when Kettleburn asked for a volunteer, Tom was not surprised to see that even the Gryffindors looked unwilling to take the risk. He was downright surprised when Cordelia volunteered. She had a knowing smirk on her face as she stepped forward.

"Not that one, Ms. Black, he is not exactly..."Kettleburn began but she did not listen.

The Hippogriff was not hostile to her. She did not even wait for Kettleburn's instructions, she stepped forward, maintaining her eye contact with the beast and she bowed as low as she could go. The beast bowed back.

"Why, I never…"Kettleburn looked surprised.

She slowly approached the hippogriff, and gently touched his beak, scratching him under the chin and softly saying something to it. She petted his side. The beast nuzzled her hair and she gave a soft laugh.

For the first time, he did not find a laugh deplorable.

And then the Beast did something much unexpected; it went down on its knees.

" _She has such a mischievous look on her face_." Riddle thought incredulously. Kettleburn looked perplexed, he did not even realize what she was doing.

She went and climbed the back of the beast and before Kettleburn could realize, the hippogriff had taken flight.

"Ms. Black!" Kettle Burn looked murderous and worried, very worried.

Orion and Abraxas had went white in the face, therefore it was not something that she had done before. Aimee and Tara looked horrified. Lestrange looked gleeful. Rosier looked like he had never seen anything like this, which he probably had not.

Tristan Fawley was cheering out loud. Warrington and Bolton were following the same lead. The mudblood, Tufts, was biting her knuckles. Brendon Longbottom had a mixed face of worry and pride.

And he looked up at sky and was awed by the scene. Cordelia was flying, alright.

In fact, she seemed to have the time of her life and looked extremely elegant. She circled the lake and towers of castle and with one final swirl around lake, she landed right next to barn that they were standing beside. He could see that she was laughing.

"Good Boy." She patted the hippogriff's back.

The hippogriff again went on its knees and she climbed off its back, gently, carefully, as if she was afraid to hurt it.

She continued to pet it.

"Ms. Black, I have never…that was extremely reckless, and how in the world did you manage it?" Kettleburn tried to reprimand her but could not stop from asking the question.

Gryffindors were catcalling and whistling. It seemed all of them were lovestruck by her. Foolish Gryffindors, all she had to do was do something brash to win their hearts.

Orion and Abraxas looked better.

"Hush guys, you would scare them." She called out disapprovingly, "Simple Professor, I climbed him on because he wanted me to. If I had not, it would have taken insult, and I would be lying here bloodied."

Orion and Abraxas glared at the Professor.

"Do you have experience with ..."Kettleburn now looked chastised but still was unable to keep out his curiosity.

"Not really, Professor, not in this lifetime, I just read about them, found them fascinating. They are indeed very proud." She continued petting him, then bowed back, and stepped away.

"All right everybody, do not attempt what Ms. Black did but approach them in the same manner as she did." Kettleburn said and began lecturing again.

Tom tuned him out. Like Cordelia, he had read up on the hippogriffs and he had observed her closely and she had accomplished something that, the Professor's look told him, was unique. He watched her for a bit but then she came and stood right next to him.

"You are at times too bold, Ms. Black." He whispered to her, referring both to last night and her feat with the hippogriff. He could not resist the jab.

"And you are not. Mr. Riddle." She shot back.

" _Fair enough, voicing the jab was bold."_ Riddle thought.

"Point taken." He inclined his head, "But I am not so blatantly Gryffindorish about it. My boldness is necessity. Riding a hippogriff, however, is not." He gave her a scrutinizing look.

"Well, I do not take offense to the idea of being a Gryffindor. It is a noble house with a fair bit of history. And the second part depends a lot of how one defines necessity, no..? However. I do concede that my boldness was not necessary but rather impulsive, but I still took the best route to minimize damage to myself. Bold but not reckless. And boldness in my eyes is a redeeming quality just as cunning is." She raised a brow at him, with a questioning look.

"Your wit and the way you weave words is commendable, Ms. Black. But you would find that there are people with abilities to see beyond them." Riddle shot back.

"Only those who use it themselves, I am afraid." She inclined her head.

" _Sly little dame. It could be an insult or a compliment, spun either way, as it suited her. A jab on his manipulation or a remark on his observation._ " Tom grudgingly thought.

"Very well, Ms. Black. This round goes to you." He smirked.

"Oh, I don't care about who gets the round as much as I care about a well-played game, Mr. Riddle." She looked at him impassively, "You should pick Buckbeak. I think he would like you."

She again moved around to talk to everyone else. He watched her assure her cousins of her perfect health and move on to chat up with Gryffindors. He realized, she mostly listened after greeting people and offered only a couple of interjections, but nodded and smiled often. He understood why people called her quiet even though she socialized often.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

The rest of the school week passed in blur.

She was at par with him in academics. Her potions were perfect, she aced through charms, she aced through everything. She had every Professor eating out of her palm. She got along with everybody, Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Slughorn seemed to love her just as he adored Tom. In Slytherin, she was well liked but she made no hints to defer to or oppose him. Though, she did seem to respect his authority over others as she never got in his way.

They shared a few more banters, mostly playful and testing waters.

Most teachers had hinted that they should pair together in classes as they seemed to do well and would not slow the other person. They could even attempt extra, advanced work.

Despite himself, Riddle found himself actually liking her company. She intrigued him. He wanted her within his circle, but a part of him knew that she was competent, as competent as him and would likely not defer to him. She was a risk, and yet he could not find himself wanting her to bow to him. He liked her where she was, challenging him subtly, privately while respecting his domain and rule over Slytherins. He never enforced his rules over her, but she never actively broke any too. Though she made it clear that she was unhappy at the state of Slytherin, unhappy with the state of Hogwarts too. She, like him, was the epitome of Slytherin and wanted the glory restored.

It was a lazy Saturday Morning. He did not see her in the common room in the early hours or down at Breakfast.

He waited for the rest of his court to arrive who gradually slumped on the chairs around him.

Cordelia came as half the breakfast was over. Completely awake, dressed in a casual robe of purple, with the same tome that she had been perusing on Monday, with a bag hanging over her left shoulder.

She smiled and greeted everybody including him and settled down next to him. It was the place of Renatus Lestrange who had yet to make an appearance. He did not mind.

But he was sure but some others would, especially Lestrange.

"I don't like to have my back towards the rest of hall." She quietly said, put the book aside, and started piling her plate with bacon.

"I am surprised that you slept in, Cordelia. You are usually such an early riser." Abraxas said.

"This is why I said that we should meet more often cousin, you missed me this summer and past winter. I have a new morning regime. I did not attempt it here with the first week of school but since it is a weekend." She trailed off.

"What kind of regime?" Alphard asked, very curious. Riddle for once was grateful to him because he was curious as well.

"And you are unexceptionally unobservant, cousin and a lazy sod, if I may add?" She fixed him with an unrelenting look," I stayed a part of my summer with you, you surely should have discovered it by now." She raised a brow.

" _She is good at sidestepping questions too."_ Riddle thought.

Before Alphard could protest back, owl posts arrived.

Six owls dropped in front of Cordelia.

She looked startled and then she and Dorea together removed all the packages.

Four of them had two letters each, one carried one, and the other carried lots of shrunken packets.

"Looks like a lot of people miss you, Corrie." Sebastian Longbottom strolled over to the Slytherin table.

"I think your mother wrote specifically to ask me to keep an eye on you, Ian," she shot back.

"Everyone misses dear Cordelia." Walburga did not look pleased.

"Well, I will read the letters later." Cordelia ignored her and separated one of the shrunk things and put her wand on it and muttered, "Engorgio."

It converted into a large basket of desserts, with huge chocolate muffins on top.

"All right, people! Who wrote to my mother and insinuated that I am not eating?" She blinked and added as a dry remark.

She was acting very nonchalant, but in a fraction of moment she had slipped and he had seen how overwhelmed she was.

"Well what are you guys waiting for? Help yourself. I am fairly confident that it was Cherry's incessant commentary that led mother to send me this." She just had to say it and everybody pounced on it.

She just sat and watched everyone amusedly and he was watching her." The treacle tart is mine." She declared, "So, don't even think about it."

When everybody was busy chortling and gobbling up the food, she picked out a fairly plain slab of chocolate cake, placed it on a plate and offered to him, looking at him expectantly. "You will like this. It has raspberry and molten chocolate sauce."

Then she picked up a fork and knife and placed them in front of him.

He looked at her as if he had seen nothing like her, took the cutlery cut a small piece and took a bite. It was delicious. He said so.

"Thank you. I am sure that Cherry will appreciate it." She said graciously.

"She is your house elf?" He questioned.

She nodded, "My personal elf, she was allowed in Beauxabatons but not here. She is very protective." She nibbled on a small piece that she tore off from his dessert.

He looked at her incredulously because of the house elf comment and the casual way she just picked up food from what was supposedly his plate.

She looked at him, with a full mouth and chewed very slowly as if deciphering his look, then after a quick realization, she quickly swallowed, " Oh I am terribly sorry, Mr. Riddle, I did not mean to come out as a.."

"It is okay Ms. Black." He said quickly to assure her. And then, he thought about why he assured her like that. She nodded, but she gave him a concerned look.

It was true that even while keeping aside the custom and etiquettes, Tom did not like people taking his food. It reminded him of the orphanage, people stealing his meal and he usually reacted instantly but somehow, it did not quite affect him when she did that. His subconscious did not see her as a threat and he wondered why.

And her reaction was not scared or nervous, she looked concerned, as if she knew the affect it would have on him. It was a tad bit disconcerting.

The others had not noted anything, busy filling their mouth with all the cakes and pies and tarts.

She gave him a weak smile and blinked once assuredly, as if insinuating that his secret was safe with her. " _What secret_?" He thought furiously. He left the dessert, got up and left.

If he would have turned around and looked at her, he would have seen her giving him a sad look.

" _He hated Cordelia Faye Black. She was everything that he was, everything. He could not pinpoint one thing apart from parseltongue that the girl lacked. On top of it, she was a pureblood, not just any pureblood, but a Black, an influential and powerful Black. A Black who had his circle tied tightly around her fingers and charisma, who had grown up amongst them and had them eating tout of her palms._

 _Hell, there was this thing about her that even drew him in, for Morgana's sake. What was this girl?_

 _But she seemed genuine, she was not hostile towards him, she had reprimanded her cousin, she was evaluating him, but not like he was evaluating her. He was calculative in his approach, she did not seem to be. She was nice to him, but not like he was nice to her. She seemed to include everyone in whatever her affections were directed towards, including him. That disconcerted him, it gave him an itch, because he could not point one reason for why, why was she nice to him._

 _He understood why she was not scared of him, she was as good as him at magic. She did not defer to him, even when he was heir of Slytherin but she respected him, just like he respected her. But she was nice to him, when she did not have to. She must have an ulterior motive._

 _But he, for one, could not figure it out. He would keep an eye on her_." Tom was thinking furiously as he walked on, trying to clear his head.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

Cordelia went to the room of requirement, and took out the letters. The paired letters were from her mother and Father, Uncle Arcturus and Aunt Ariel, Uncle Pollux and Aunt Cassiopeia, and her two friends from Beauxabatons. The single letter was from Callidora Black.

She read her mother and father's letters first. Her father's was a detailed response to a question she had sent about the book she was reading and the last paragraph in very crafty language stated how proud he was of her to be able to read that much in to the text.

Her mother was a bit more open, she sounded worried, and asked after her health, and any pain.

Her Uncle Arcturus' letter was a bit of thick parchment of Black family properties and their details. He was serious about making her the Heiress. She knew most of the details and he said so, but this was in further detail, he said.

Ariel had asked her to keep an eye on Alphard and Orion and had also asked to check up on one Charles Potter, it seemed that Dorea had mentioned him in one letter back home. 'Check' meant see if he was worthy enough to marry into the Black family or was it a ploy of light to undermine one of the prominent dark families of world.

Pollux wrote about curbing Burga's outbursts, apologizing for them, and basically giving her leeway over to her to deal with her in any manner she pleased, short of physical and mental long term affects. She smirked.

Cassiopeia's was much more joyous, hinting on a lot of dirt on her fellow classmates, which Cordelia was surprised to note she deciphered easily. Her aunt asked her to have to some fun while she was in Hogwarts. Cordelia could actually picture her aunt giving her a sly wink.

Callidora Longbottom nee Black wrote too, asking general questions about life and how she was settling in at Hogwarts, telling how Ian was praising her performance and to keep it up and coerce Ian to grow a subtle bone as well. She grinned.

The last bunch was from Colette and Raphael, who were her best friends from the French school. Raphael was a bit general, about how things were boring without her and Colette described the entire week at the school, about how everyone's reaction to her transfer was and how Raphael was acting like lovesick puppy and moping and whining all around.

She realized with a pang that she missed them both.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

"My Lord, the book you asked for, well I wrote to my father and asked for it, he replied that cousin Corrie…Err... Cordelia had borrowed it over in the summer and that she still has it. I would have asked her but since she is very observant, she would probably realize that I did not wish to read it and would deduce that you want it .Since she has yet to be inducted in, I did not take a chance." Abraxas said.

"Tell me Abraxas, why would your cousin need that book when she is not the heiress apparent of any house?" Tom asked him succinctly.

"I cannot say, my lord, but she reads anything and everything. It is not very surprising for her to read up on family magic." Abraxas replied.

The face of Blacks were composed. They knew something but could not say it.

He seethed inside.

Then he saw Cordelia approaching them. She stopped at a few feet and gave him a questioning glance.

He scowled. She smiled unconcernedly and approached him and handed him the book, the book he had wanted.

"Uncle wrote to me." She shrugged as if that explained everything.

She took out her wand and before he or his lieutenants could do anything and had murmured and waved her wand and created a ward between the two of them.

"A privacy ward as you already know." She raised a brow.

"What kind of assistance do you require, Ms. Black?" He glared at her.

"An advice for you, actually. That is why the ward, I did not think that you take it kindly if I advised you in front of your court. My intentions are not to belittle you or tell you that I am better than you in any sense, but I feel the need to tell you this, in case, you do not know. If you do know, very well. However in case you don't, you should listen to me carefully. If you are waiting to be the legal heir of Slytherin to tap into your family magic, you are just stalling. The magic does not require legality. It is within you from the time you took birth. You just need to tap into it. If it approves of you, it will form a totem. The more it approves of you, the more easier it would be to call upon it, but once you have done so, remember that it has a will of its own, it will respect you or not, but well it will pretty much do what it would want to do. The more it approves of you, the more control it will give to you. You will not find this in any book. The magic is inside you, call upon it when you think you are ready, but if you would want my take on it, don't delay it. You were ready when you were born. The chant is Familus Magicus. It will be prudent if you use your blood the first time, since you are old enough. It is just a drop, let it drop to earth, you don't even need the ritual circle. It might help if you invoke it in parseltongue since it is likely to be a snake. Again be respectful and firm, don't let it intimidate you. That's it. Thank you for listening to me." She gave a very small curtsy, waved her wand again and canceled the ward, turned around and left without waiting for his dismissal.

" _He was even more confused now and he felt threatened. She had discovered that he wanted the book for without intending to. She gave it to him, without hesitating, even though she did not bow to his authority. She advised him and he could not decide if it was a ploy to get him killed or to genuinely help him. But she had read him like an open book, she knew his insecurities and what his plans were without him or the court even indicating them._

 _She had the power to destroy him in a blink. Slytherin heir or not, he was a half blood, many pure bloods would be against him for that reason alone and well muggleborns and light faction would be against him because he was the spawn of Slytherin._

 _But he had the book, and she had very conveniently said that he would not find this in any book, should he trust her word and do it. If it was an ill advice, the consequences would be not pretty and if he did not do it and it was a sound advice, he delayed his progress when it was handed over to him on a platter."_

He looked at his court, Abraxas and the Blacks were pale, and the others looked contemplative. They had no idea what had happened, privacy ward blurred surroundings and canceled all noise and smell.

They just knew that a fourteen year old girl had cast the ward and had talked to their king and the king seemed none too happy about it.

"I am not going to do anything with your cousin sister," He said looking at her family members. They relaxed.

"Yet." He added soon after they relaxed and they tensed up again," It is highly inconvenient for her and you that you cannot reveal anything to me about her. "

"My lord! We...cannot. . ." They stammered.

"Cannot or won't. It did not escape my notice that you, all of you, are extremely fond of her. While I do not condone your family bonds, I will not tolerate you keeping information from me, or any sort of insubordination." Riddle hissed, his eyes darkening, "Dismissed.". He said a minute later, when he had made it sufficiently clear with his glare that how furious this made him.

It might have escaped his notice in his anger, but Tom was very observant, Renatus Lestrange looked like Christmas had come early. He wondered why.

* * *

 **Since I promised that I would update on Saturdays, here is the new chapter. I will post the next one only on next Saturday now, so don't wait for an update in just a couple of days. I have to pack to go back to college. :(**

 **But I am excited on going back. :D**

 **I have updated my profile to include a detailed encyclopedia about characters in this fic. So check that out.**

 **As for the members of the court, you can assume that all pureblood male heirs from Slytherin are a part of it and a few other sons who come from important families in Slytherin are as well, like Anastius Zabini.**

 **Yes, the position of women is subservient in the society as is evident from their absence in Riddle's court and this fic is going to address that to an extent because Cordelia has time traveled back from 2004 where times were relatively kinder to women. This is 1942 and she is going to have a hell lot of problems in adjusting, so her normal self, which will be perceived as rebellious will seep in. We will see how 1942 handles that.**

 **Also, you must have noticed that most of the story in this chapter was from Tom's POV. That would be a pattern for quite some time. There might be a couple of other POVs too.**

 **Hope you enjoyed the chapter, Please read and review.**

 **To all the followers and favoriters, you made me very excited. I am glad that people are liking the fic and that I have not typed about 50,000 words of junk. But yes, I am only going to update it weekly because well, I need time to catch up with the future of this fic and I don't want to go on a prolonged hiatus in case I get busy with college.**

 **To all the reviewers, thank you, you made me day. Reading praise is just different so, thank you for that.**

 **I would also request that if there is a general feedback on my writing or clarity, please let me know.**


	4. Interlude 1: Smells like teen spirit

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances and nineteen years later. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

4) This is a gender bender. I will bend gender roles like clay considering it is 1940s. :P

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue"**

* * *

 **A/N: PLEASE READ**

 **One reviewer raised the issue of Mary Sue. I think I addressed this in the first chapter briefly. Cordelia is going to be, more or less, a Mary Sue, I am saying that upfront here. I don't see any issues with that since we have a zillion Super Harry and Super Tom fics. Just because she is a woman, she is not going to be less powerful or docile or less perfect. However, I do understand the reviewer's completely valid concern about character development, so I am taking it to heart and applying it to this story.**

 **I had earlier written most of the story from Tom's POV, as mentioned in Chapter 2. I wanted Cordelia's past to be murky and mysterious until a point in the story when all is revealed, but as I said, I think the reviewer had a valid concern, so I am going to introduce Cordelia's mysterious activities in interludes in between the chapter. They might be shorter than the average chapter though.**

 **But just a general knowledge, she was 24 when she did the ritual. I think I mention it in the summary inside each chapter. A lot can go down in six years. Let me repeat, she was like canon Harry till the battle of Hogwarts except for a couple of minor plot changes that are not going to affect her power in any sort, but only reflect her opinions. She was 24 and she traveled back in time to fix things and I believe that she would make sure that she was prepared to take on anything and everything when she arrived in a different timeline. So, yes, she is Mary Sueish, but she was worked hard on it, and she is not one just on a whim. I have a very strong back story for her, that was earlier going to be revealed a bit later in the story but now it will be teased as interludes. Cordelia is not a perfect doll, she is just pretending to be one. Also, she is very morally ambiguous.**

 **I am still not going to reveal the story, but just give vague glimpses of her preparation. The six years will not be addressed completely until later, but there is a strong plot related reason for why I am doing that which you might or might not deduce in this interlude.** **But it will come up later in detail. Hope that is settled.**

 **Here is the first such Interlude. They are either going to be from Cordelia's point of view or one other character, who I am not revealing right now.**

* * *

 **Interlude 1: Smells like teen spirit***

 **Cordelia's POV**

Cordelia was sitting inside her second trunk. She had just riled up Riddle again. She had just felt like laughing out loud at his temper on receiving the book and advice.

" _Her poor Tom._ " She just chuckled.  
She was sitting in an apartment, and no, not the one that came out on top if somebody discovered her second trunk. This one was 10 layers underneath the first apartment. This one had her memorabilia as Juniper, all the photos, other trinkets that were valuable to her. This also was the entrance to other storage places in trunk, a giant potions lab, an ingredient store with all the ingredients in the world, the rarest of them. You never know what you might need once you time travel. The entire library of the Blacks and Potters from her world, and copies of rare books, manuscripts, records that she had found, bought, copied from other families. A giant dueling arena, a large greenhouse for fresh ingredients and a lot more.

The trunk was as large as Hogwarts once you were inside it. A huge giant fortress hidden beneath layers of security. She had taken special measures to erase the trace of magic, hiding everything beyond the first layers of the trunk which had an apartment, a potions lab, a library, a small duelling arena, a well stocked ingredient store with less variety, another wardrobe courtesy of Ginny's insistent pleas and a meeting room.

The last layer of the trunk had her gold, all of it, all the contents of all the vaults of Juniper Anastasia Potter. Some she had donated or separated into other vaults before coming, but she had brought the rest. Siddharth and Draco had been insistent, "We know you are most likely going to be a Black, because of that.. 'thing', and they are loaded, but you never know when you might need more gold. Your family can stand against you too, you know, if they find out..." Their worried, hassled looks came to her mind. She shut her shields before the memories went on an onslaught on her.

She was here for Tom, she could not focus on her past and the painful memories that it brought. Instead, she tried to focus on her quest, weighing her options, making Plans, A, B, C, D and so on. You never know what could go wrong when, she had to be prepared for every eventuality. The timeline had shifted drastically just by her arrival and now her actions were going to create impacts and create threads of events that she had no clue about even though she had memorized all incidents from 1901 to her time like the back of her hand.

She was currently perusing the minutes of Wizangomot meetings from December 1942 in her timeline again. She had read all of them, beginning from 1902 to 2004 and spent hours sitting with Draco, Narcissa and Hermione making sense of all of them. Their vivid notes lay there, Draco's perfect calligraphy, Hermione's neat, tiny handwriting. These things helped her, but they also served as a reminder of the things and people she left behind to protect and succeed in her quest. She felt a tight pain in chest. This time she did not fight it and instead looked at the wall of the study.

A portrait of Ron, Hermione and her when she was 22 in a club in the States. The Golden trio. She remembered the night well. She had spent dodging Hermione's questions and advises about Siddharth and her. She had gotten so drunk that she had rocked the dance floor with Ginny and Luna as they mindlessly grooved to 'Smells like Teen Spirit'. She had gotten so drunk that Siddharth and Draco both had to work together from preventing her to do something stupid. She had been wild, but they had somehow brought her back home, in between keeping Hermione at bay, making sure that Ron would drop Ginny and Luna, making sure that Neville would calm down Hermione, making sure that Hannah had not been left scandalized and that Zabini was not going to rat her just for his amusement to the newspapers.

Her eyes fleeted to another photo, that of her 'silver' trio, her Slytherin group. Draco and her and Siddharth. Siddharth was not a Slytherin. In fact, he had only come to Britain because of her, to help her, but he was as good as any snake. If Narcissa and Draco had taught her the intricacies of moving in and dealing with a pureblood crowd, it was him who coached her on this infallible charm, and casual manipulation of people without feeling guilt.

In the photo, she had fell on Sid's lap, laughing hysterically and had hid her face in Draco's abdomen as he stood at one side, also laughing hysterically. The two had been dueling against her, but it had ended up in a comic show.

She had such carefree moments so rarely even in those six years. She had spent the rest of time working her ass off, preparing, preparing until she was so completely saturated that she broke down crying. She cried for a bit and then went back to preparation like a robot again.

She sighed, wiping the tears that had sprung up. Instead she opened the drawer and pulled out a photograph. It was of Tom, but he was considerably older, seventeen. She had stolen it from the Hogwarts records after convincing Mcgonagall to let her look in all the files and records of Hogwarts after the war. The photo had been taken when he had been anointed Headboy.

She felt her resolve strengthening. She was going to complete her task. And she won't let Tom have a human and charming side only as a mask, she would make him feel. She would…

The intruder alarm blared. Someone was knocking on her door.

She left the papers and files scattered as she rushed into her magical elevator. She alone could byspass all security in a jiffy, with her will and magical essence imbued in the trunk. A nifty piece of magic that she, Draco and Sid had done together, expanding the trunk and imbibing every layer with complex wards and runes.

She rushed out of the trunk, closed it, hid it and opened the door to her room.

Dorea's harried face came in view.

Cordelia looked at her in confusion, "What's with the look Dory?"

Dorea hurried inside and shut the door, "Alphard just told me about the court meeting. Did you have to rile him up like that?"

Cordelia raised a brow, "I was trying to help him, but well, Riddle is a complex creature, I guess he was not pleased with my deed."

"Pleased." Dorea exclaimed in fear, " He is murderous, Cordelia. He said he would do something to you if you keep this up."

"He threatened me in front of the court. Is he dumb?" Cordelia asked incredulously.

Dorea gave her a look, "He might be, but are you? Why do you have to catch his attention like that? Calling him dumb. . . Cordelia, he is dangerous, okay. I never got to tell you about in in presence of Orion and Abraxas but..."

"I know how dangerous he can be, believe me?" Cordelia placed a placating hand on Dorea's shoulder, remembering in a flash the form Riddle took as Voldemort. She blocked it.

"Then why? Just be careful. The court is contemplating how to deal with his outburst, so you might not have to worry." Dorea hurriedly said, "Abraxas was not pleased but he is being diplomatic about it, Alphard is about to murder Riddle and Orion is subdued, but some of the 6th years and 7th years are talking…"

"Wait, the court is contemplating what?" Cordelia ignored her question and focused on the disturbance.

"He can't just threaten family like that. None of ..." Dorea began.

"None of the heirs are going to like that, no." Cordelia finished it quickly, mentally thanking Narcissa for her harsh training,

"Have they gone nuts?" She asked after a brief pause.

"Tom is a nut." Dorea voiced in outrage.

"I never denied that he is a nut, but he is more powerful than he lets on, the court's supposed mutiny is in futile. And Riddle has a very strong reason for being the way he is. I will explain in some detail, some day. Not now. I have to take the class of that wannabe dark lord and do some damage control."

"Wannabe, what are you saying?" Dorea asked in confusion.

"Never mind, nothing. I just have a long night ahead. Don't worry about me. Riddle won't be able to do anything. Go to sleep and just do me a favor, make sure that the girls of Slytherin don't take this outside the house. I will deal with the men." Cordelia said quickly and left the room, knowing that her wards would come up as soon as Dorea stepped out of the room.

As Cordelia approached the circle of all heirs, she saw that Renatus was the only one supporting Riddle. For the first time, Cordelia was grateful to that jackass.

But when she listened to him, she just beat her head up. Instead of using reason and cunning, he was bashing Cordelia and how she was at fault. If that dolt kept this up, he would be a bigger pariah than Riddle.

All the heirs adored her and all of them would seek her as a match soon enough. She knew that. They were not going to listen to any ramble of Lestrange, of all the people, against her. They adored her. They did not know her fiery and rebellious side or chose to ignore it, but all of them would want a powerful witch as the mother of their next generation. Whatever, she would get angry at them later for thinking and reducing her to a mere breeder, but she had some politics to play before that.

Cordelia thought furiously and cleared her throat to get their attention. They all turned to her expectantly, "I understand that there is some misunderstanding here."

The lyrics of music of 'Smells like teen spirit' buzzed in her head.

 _Load up on guns, bring your friends  
It's fun to lose and to pretend  
She's over bored and self-assured  
Oh no, I know a dirty word._

 _Hello, hello, hello, how low? [X3]_  
 _Hello, hello, hello!*_

She internally smirked, " _This is going to be epic._ "

* * *

 **Note: I know I said I will update on next Saturday but this is not a chapter technically. But fair warning, the interludes might count as a chapter from now on. I just wanted to clear the back story of the Mary Sue. SO, I take feedback seriously people. Feel free to point holes and errors. Thank you guest reviewer, you made me think of the idea of interludes and this might just make the story more gripping. I wrote this interlude pretty quickly. But this means more unresolved things and more mystery, so wait for the updates more eagerly. :P**

 **Also, a bit on Tom. He is dangerous yes. But he is vulnerable still. He is still almost 2 years away from his first murder and if you read the interlude carefully, Cordelia has different plans.**

 **Siddharth is an OC and I own him people. But I did not give much on him. He is my third favorite character, so he plays a key role but it is going to come really later. You can give me theories on what his exact role is. His nickname is Sid.**

 **Just for people who are not Indian, a piece of trivia, Siddharth is an Indian Sanskrit name. It was the name of Buddha before he became enlightened. It roughly means 'one who has accomplished a goal' The goal is usually spiritual. That's it.**

 **And this is my first cliffie, so please be kind. And wait for Saturday for the resolution to this.**

 *** The title of the chapter and lyrics are from the song 'Smells like teen spirit' of Nirvana. I do not own it.**

 **Please review.**


	5. Frost and Baskets

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

4)This is a gender bender. I will bend gender roles like clay, considering it is based in 1940s. :D

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue** ** _"_**

* * *

 ** _This chapter is dedicated to Alan Rickman. May he live in our memories 'Always'._**

* * *

 ** _PREVIOUSLY_**

 **As Cordelia approached the circle of all heirs, she saw that Renatus was the only one supporting Riddle. For the first time, Cordelia was grateful to that jackass.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **Cordelia thought furiously and cleared her throat to get their attention. They all turned to her expectantly, "I understand that there is some misunderstanding here."**

 **The lyrics of music of 'Smells like teen spirit' buzzed in her head.**

 ** _Load up on guns, bring your friends  
It's fun to lose and to pretend  
She's over bored and self assured  
Oh no, I know a dirty word._**

 **She internally smirked, "** ** _This is going to be good._** **"**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Frost and baskets.**

 **Tom's POV**

He was quietly reading in his room when there was a knock on his door. His court knew better than to disturb him in this wee hour of night unless it was an emergency. The probability of that happening was negligible, therefore this intrusion annoyed him to no end, especially after that conniving witch's act in the court meeting.

"Enter." He called out frostily.

The door opened gently with all the courtesy that any sane and normal person should have but none in the entirety of Hogwarts did. It was not one of his courtiers, the opening would have been hesitant and scared otherwise.

It was Cordelia _._ " _How surprising?"_ Especially since it was so late in the night and she was a girl in the boys' dorm.

Though there was something different about it, her usual smile was absent. Her expression was unreadable, and looked a tad bit frosty. It reminded him, well of himself. But Cordelia though comparable to him in power and abilities, was not as cold as him. She was emotional, she cared for people and she always smiled and made people feel better about themselves, as far as he had gotten to know her. That cold look didn't suit her."

"May I?" She asked in a clipped tone. As a courtesy, Riddle noted, not because she was afraid of him.

He inclined his head, "To what do I owe the pleasure, Ms. Black?" He offered the same courtesy. Unlike their hippogriff incident, she did not look amused at his attempt for banter.

"For someone who wishes to control the pureblood circles, you know quite less about them than you need to. Family is everything. Honor is everything, Loyalty is everything. And even though they are traits particularly thought of as belonging to Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, the Slytherins and Ravenclaws do not by any means lack it. You ought to remember that before threatening to harm the daughter of one of the Ancient and Noble Houses in front of the other sons and daughters of the same house. My cousins did not take it otherwise, at least not all of them. They are devoted but the rest of the circle will. Heir of Slytherin or not, you are promoting antipathy between family business. Most Lords and Heirs will not take the discord lightly. You lost composure because you were angry at me and you are seething right now as well. As much as your attention flatters me, I would like to remind you that I am perhaps not worth the losses your indiscretions on my behalf will impose on you. The rest of the house is talking, it would serve you well if you regained control as soon as possible. I apologize for disturbing you at this wee hour. Have a good and ruminating night." She turned around and left.

"You are not going to threaten me back?" It slipped in a venomous tone, but the curiosity was there.

She stopped as she was opening the door again, "We are very alike, Mr. Riddle. You would not have made this error had you been brought up in our society. However, there is one difference, you consider me a potential enemy, whilst I do not. Rest assured, if you attack me, I will defend myself. But otherwise, I am more patient than you are in some aspects. I actually try to solve mysteries rather than despairing over their existence."

She inclined her head, the barest hints of her usual smile graced her lips and she left.

" _That conniving little ... Cordelia Faye Black did not just see through his mask, she caused him to lose it_."

But he saw her point, he had erred and sent out a wrong message. He could not ask for such devotion this early in their arrangement. As much as he hated her for being right, he knew that she was right. He spent the rest of the night scheming.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

The next day was busy for Riddle as he did damage control. Surprisingly, the damage was not as bad as he was thinking, the Slytherins were willing to give him a chance.

It confused him to no end. Only one person had been unpredictable to him till now, and that was Cordelia and now the entire house was not responding as it should have.

The gears of his brain whirred and he realized that she had intervened not just with him, but perhaps with the rest of the house as well .

He called on Abraxas who looked a little wary.

"Abraxas, what exactly did your cousin say to the rest of the house?"He asked without preamble,

"My lord, she never spoke a word against you. She was not even angry that you wanted to take actions against her…"Abraxas begun explaining.

"That's not what I asked," Riddle cut him off, irritated that his courtier had immediately presumed that he was accusing Cordelia. " _Had he been so open and juvenile with his anger_?"

"She deduced the argument after people started talking, then she said that you were right to be wary of her as she was an unknown variable in the scheme of things and that she did not hold any precautionary step that you take against her to be anything but cautiousness. Then she chastised all of the house about the lack of loyalty and the obvious dissonance all displayed and said that it was no surprise to her that you did not take the circle's word about her trustworthiness because they themselves were not trustworthy for their lord. But she also said that if you were waiting for her to bow to you, then that is not going to happen anytime soon, she said and I quote, "we are both evaluating each other." And then went on to say that the rest of the house did not share her privilege as you had already proved yourself to them and said that the house should face the fact that perhaps nobody above fourth year could hold a chance against you, much less anyone below," Abraxas replied rapidly.

Riddle was astonished but he swiftly nodded and thanked Abraxas for the details. " _So Cordelia Black had done the damage control for him, after he threatened to harm her. This did not add up."_

He would have expected it out of people who wanted his favor, or were afraid of him. He did not think Cordelia wanted anything from him, and she sure as hell was not scared of him. She had chastised him, for Morgana's sake. She did not want to usurp his position as well. She could have easily done it last night, the crowd would have swayed towards her after the blunder he had committed. Or she was lulling him into a false sense of security by being nice and helping towards him. But somehow his mind did not agree with that conclusion. He was missing something crucial.

He got out of the common room, and begun walking in no particular direction to clear his thoughts.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

Cordelia had a nice and enlightening second week at Hogwarts, with all the classes and the banter with Riddle and even the last night's meeting and interference with the court. Tom Riddle was cold and calculating but there was hope for him yet. She agreed with him that things needed to change, the division between light and dark was cumbersome, the standards of education were not as good as they should have been, and wizards and witches underestimated the influence of muggles.

She had studied a lot about the brewing World War back as Juniper and now as Cordelia. She wondered how Tom was faring, living in the muggle London in the middle of a financial and security crisis. The robes hid it but he was thin, too thin, as thin as June became when she went to the Dursleys. She was worried about him but did not know how to resolve the issue without giving herself away.

" _Baby steps_ ", she reminded herself. He needed to trust and consider her his equal before anything else. " _How ironic_?" She mused.

She was determined to be his first friend. She turned back to her book, even though she had a sleepless night and was tired.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

Tom found Cordelia in the library, pouring over a book of runes, sitting on the bench with her legs outstretched on the table, lazily twirling one of her curls sticking out from a loose bun, with a quill.

She did not look up from the book.

Normally this would have made Tom very angry, today it just mildly irritated him.

"You can sit, you know, it's a free country," Cordelia said lightly without looking up from her book. Tom narrowed his eyes and stayed on his feet.

She shut the book one minute later, taking too long in Tom's opinion and pulled her feet down to sit properly and resting her elbows on the desk and looked at him expectantly.

"My apologies Mr. Riddle, The rune Sowilo is a fascinating read and I had just started in on an interesting bit, forgive me. Please sit. How may I be of any assistance?" She gave a small smile. It wasn't cheery, but it wasn't hostile either. That surprised Tom. He also realized that she looked tired, perhaps from all the damage control she did last night. He took a seat from across her.

And with a start, he realized that he had been trying to find her on a whim. He would not thank her, even though he was grateful. " _What would he talk about_?"

"Why the interest in Sowilo?" He asked.

"My cousins are not good informers if they haven't yet told you that I read absolutely anything that I can lay my hands on." She said, her smile becoming slightly wider, but she looked tired. This bothered Tom.

"They did tell me that, but something tells me they don't know you that well to provide me with the truth." He said in his charming, soft voice.

"Well, you could always ask me!" She raised her both brows with a wide smile, her eyes sparkling as if his admission delighted her.

"I think I will." Tom Riddle said, a new hopeful light entering his eyes as he looked at her, "Tell me Ms. Black, why did you lie to me the first day?"

"I am afraid you will have to tell me the lie Mr. Riddle for me to answer that truthfully…"Her smile did not go. In fact, she looked smug.

"So you have lied to me?" He raised a brow.

"Haven't you lied to me? Or omitted truth? Or deceived me? I assure you for survival in this place and circle, we all have lied at some point. However, I would not have done it deliberately just for your sake. Ask away," Her eyes had steel and a new fire now.

"And how do I trust that? You can lie again." Riddle pointed out astutely.

"Well, you don't." She easily said then continued after a pause, "But if you want to, it is called a leap of faith. I can honestly say that I have done nothing to add to your distrust. I was my normal, cheeky yet quiet, cryptic self. I have always been like that. Ask others in your circle if you don't take mine or my cousins' word over it. Do you wish that I behave differently? And will you offer me the same courtesy? That is, leaving behind your charming mask each time you talk to me? Each one of us has a mask, even you. What makes the two of us stand out in the crowd is our ability to see beyond it. You cannot just demand people to get rid of it. That's tyranny not skill." Her tone was a bit succinct.

"Very well, Ms. Black," His expression betrayed nothing but he looked amiable and he was surprised that he wasn't furious with her. He had to give it to her, she made sense constantly, "Would you please answer one query that I have then?" Riddle looked at her.

She nodded her head but her expression was guarded. Tom realized that he was not off the hook.

"You said that Hogwarts is more advanced. And yet I see you acing through every single class. Why did you deceive me?" Riddle looked at her with a slight accusation.

"I said the course material of Hogwarts is a bit more advanced in some subjects. That is why I questioned which subjects held you back so that I could write home and ask for books on more advanced material in case I didn't have the books. Abraxas and others were not very helping in that. Hogwarts is a light school with certain specialties, and as I said Beauxabatons is a tad bit frivolous for my taste. I never said that Hogwarts was advanced for me, merely better in some aspects of the curriculum from Beauxabatons. You made your own assumptions about me." She clarified, expressing her shock at his ludicrousness.

Tom was instantly reminded of her wording that day. She was speaking the truth. She technically had not lied, but she had left him under a false impression, whether deliberately or not, he was not sure. He was thinking hard and did not say must have seen him frown as he contemplated about how he had not seen the verbal difference in her speech. " _Had he made certain assumptions about her, just because she was a woman_?"

Then she looked at him as if he was an interesting specimen of something, "You know I would appreciate it if you do not treat me with such hostility, Mr. Riddle. It is unwarranted. And though, I understand your need to evaluate and test me, for instance I do enjoy the mind games that we play, I absolutely detest your attitude towards me. Forgive me if I am a bit curt, I do not expect you to treat me like some kind of royalty like others do, but I think I have proven myself sufficiently to be treated as a human and not an opponent on a chess field. Good Day, Mr. Riddle!" She got up in a jiffy and had marched out with her book before Riddle could blink.

For some reason, her anger amused Riddle. The soft spoken Black had a fiery side. Even last night, even though her words were laced with anger, she had not lost her composure or courtesy. This talk told him that he could not push her around. It also startled him. He decided to give it more thought.

He was done with the homework, so he went to search and explore the school for any sign of the Chamber of secrets.

It was in wee hours of evening that he made his way back to common room. It was odd, Cordelia was absent.

The Blacks were composed but he could sense their worry. Abraxas was absent too. Before he could ask Orion the matter, Renatus Lestrange had made way to him. Tom tuned out his flattery which went on for a few minutes and ignored the unsubtle accusations flung at Cordelia about what had 'actually' went down last night. If he believed Renatus, then it was him who had saved the day. Tough luck that Tom knew the influence and brain of Lestrange and also the fact that such intricate work was beyond him. He was still distracted though, his mind wandering to Cordelia.

Dorea came to the common room, looking a little pale.

"How is she?" Alphard asked in a whisper urgently.

"What is the matter?" Tom intervened before Dorea could reply.

They looked conflicted.

Tom raised a brow. His mind immediately went to how exhausted Cordelia had looked.

"What is wrong with Cordelia?" He asked again.

"Not her, my lord, Lucretia, she had an argument with Ignatius Prewett. I didn't think you would be interested in a lovers' spat. Cordelia is out with Abraxas." Dorea informed quickly.

Riddle's shoulders sagged in relief as he realized that Cordelia was fine but he immediately realized the affect she was having on him. He gave a brisk nod and left to his room.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

Cordelia was cordial to him for the next week but she never talked to him directly. He ignored her presence as well. He was getting antsy about her as she occupied his almost every thought, he was unable to decipher her. So, he decided to just stay away for a little while. But he did not have to stay away because she ignored his existence.

It was on a Friday when the sun had just begun receding that he returned to his room to collect his potions book after classes, only to find a majestic Black Owl waiting for him. He could not comprehend the situation hence he tilted his head to check if he was seeing it correctly.

He never received letters, except for Hogwarts' course lists each summer. His courtiers had not been rewarded with Tom's address for security reasons. Tom did not trust them.

But he took a step towards the owl and found that it was not a letter at all. It was a shrunken basket, just like the one Cordelia had received last week. He was about to pick it up when he stopped.

He then, hesitantly, threw several diagnostic charms at it and several dark detection spells but nothing stood out. Well, his first instinct had not been to check it for harm. He didn't think that she would do that to him. Where his confidence came from, he had no idea.

He expanded the basket, it was slightly smaller than the one Cordelia received and unlike hers, this was not an a la carte, it was predominantly the plain chocolate raspberry cakes that she had served him and then a little of some other stuff. There was her favorite Treacle tart. She had marked it with names, blueberry cheesecake, some french macaroons, a walnut tart, a red velvet cake and some muffins and cupcakes and there was a neatly tied scroll with a purple silk ribbon.

He took the scroll and gingerly opened it.

There was no salutation, but it read,

 ** _Thank you for making me feel welcome this term at Hogwarts._**

 ** _With lots of love,_**

 ** _Cordelia Faye Black._**

 ** _P.S. I have more if you want any more of this_** **.**

It was not formal, it did not bear the crest of the house of black and she had used 'with lots of love' in her signature for Morgana's sake. Cordelia Faye Black was perhaps the most bizarre person he had ever met in life.

He picked up his textbook, spared a glance to the basket and made way to the common room.

He saw a lot of baskets, even her own cousins had received it. Their female year mates were also giggling with baskets in their hands, Rosier was munching a giant muffin and Zabini was devouring a macaroon while moaning about how delightful it was.

So, she had not singled him out. Tom did not know how to think about that.

He thought of going to the library but changed midway to go the lake. He had to mull about that girl.

He was walking leisurely, looking at the ground.

"You may fall in the lake if you don't look up sooner." A musical, amused but curt voice filled his ears and he looked up to find his eyes drowning in her deep, green pools. She looked away.

Then he gathered himself and took note of his surroundings. The lake looked magnificent and he was mere seven steps away from it. There was a mild breeze and the sky had a thick cloud cover and he could make out the last saffron lights of the receding sun. A few books and parchments lay on grass with a discarded robe and then his eyes took in the form of Cordelia. She stood at the bank of the lake in a skirt, reaching till half her knee, a white blouse and a thin Cardigan over it. She was looking at the lake with her arms wrapped around her torso.

"Thank you for the basket." He said, not understanding what else to say.

Her amusement rose at that.

"You are welcome." She said graciously, "but I would be even happier if you actually ate the desserts."

"Why wouldn't I?" He questioned softly. He realized he had not liked her absence this past week.

She raised a questioning brow. He raised his in response.

"Well, considering that you seem to think that everything I do is to harm you, I assumed that you would just throw the package away deeming it poisoned." She kept her tone composed, but he could feel her ire even then.

"If you thought that, then why did you even bother to send it?" He shot back.

"You may be paranoid and irritating Mr. Riddle but that does not change the fact that your company keeps the boredom away. A Black always reciprocates in kind. You made the transition enjoyable, I offered my gratitude. Now it is up to you to accept or discard it." She said in the same tone with a tinge of sharpness.

"To be honest, the thought of poison had never crossed my mind. I was too busily engaged with the casualty of the missive." He admitted, his lips twitching. He had missed the banter.

"Well then, I warned you now. You would better keep a bezoar handy." She said in a clipped tone ignoring his comment about the casualty, turned around and started to pick up her parchments.

"Not really, I do not think that you could poison me," Riddle said in a smug tone.

"Believe me, Mr. Riddle, there are certain poisons that for them even Slughorn cannot concoct up an antidote. I could easily poison you." Cordelia's tone was very sharp, and her eyes blazoned with fury.

"My apologies, I did not word it properly. I did not mean that you do not have the ability to poison me. I merely meant that you would not do it to me." Tom said, suppressing his surprising mirth.

"Oh why? You honor me, Mr. Riddle, such trust! I did not think you had the ability in you." Cordelia shot back. She still looked annoyed.

"I admit this is my first time practicing it." He said softly.

"Well, how is it suiting you then?" Her tone lost the sharpness but was still a bit skeptical.

"Depends..."Riddle said with mischief back in his voice, "on if you are continuing on keeping me company to thwart your boredom."

"Your charm is fallible in front of me, Mr. Riddle. You forget, we are too alike." Cordelia raised a brow, but her lip twitched a little.

"Very well then!" Riddle trailed off as a snowy white owl swooped down in front of Cordelia and offered its leg.

"Amara!" Cordelia's lips stretched into a full blown smile as she stroked her feathers, the owl settled on her arm and nibbled on her fingers. She gently took the letter off.

"Uncle Hyperion!" She murmured softly. She opened it and gingerly read the contents and her smile, if possible grew wider and wider.

"Yippee!" She again murmured triumphantly.

"You look mighty pleased." Riddle could not help but comment.

"Oh, I am. I cannot believe that none of my cousins ever complained about Binns .A ghost is fine by me but all he yaps about is the goblins, as if he has an agenda against them. I researched on his family name. Turns out one Binnsons was the number one enemy of the goblins in 1560s, probably an ancestor of our Binns. I compiled the information and sent it to Uncle Rion, Abraxas' Dad, and asked if he could dig more. Turns out that Binnsons became too blood thirsty, so much that the ministry who had hired him in the first place stripped him of all honor and wealth. The family fled somewhere and changed their names but Uncle managed to trace back the family tree and bang, we have a culprit of propaganda within our school." She filled him in, her eyes lit with excitement.

Riddle stayed still for a bit, "That is good investigative work, what do you plan to do now?"

"Well, I was going to consult you, of course. You are the Slytherin king and you are establishing your base. I didn't want to come out as a usurper. I had one plan of action. Quite a few of my family is board of governors. Almost the entire dark faction consists of them and the neutral like me well enough. We could pass on the information to them. As for the light faction, we merely need to spread rumors. They are all about equality, as misguided their notion is, they will not accept discrimination. If all the board of governors pressurize Dippet, then then he will have to fire Binns. It will have to be done carefully and gradually, but if executed well, he should be sacked by the end of term, latest by this school year's end. So, what do you propose should be done with information? I mean if you actually want him sacked considering none of my cousins protested. But you possibly could not be satisfied with such lies in the name of education?" She looked at him hopefully and her last bit was entirely a question.

Riddle looked at her, "I know you do not want to usurp me. You could have easily done it when you entered Hogwarts. Though I cannot claim to know 'why are you nice to me when you do not need to be'. You are not bound by oaths, nor do you fear me. What is stopping you from outing me to all the family heads that you seem to have direct correspondence with? Yet, you have not. So, Ms. Black I do trust you but I am wary of what I do not know. And you and I both know and understand that my wariness is not unwarranted. You might not wish me harm but being careful is a precaution. As for Binns, I read books from Library, your cousins preferred sleeping, and I did not plan anything about it because I was occupied in establishing my power base. Your idea has merit, and I appreciate that you shared the information with me, even though you were not obligated to. If it is not too much trouble, I would like to contribute to the planning, along with my lieutenants. "He spoke in a composed, yet humble tone.

And she rewarded him with a smile, not a beam, not a smirk, a full blown smile, wider and happier than the one she had given to her owl and that strangely that made Riddle's stomach a bit uneasy. In that moment, Tom knew that he was forgiven.

"Thank you, I won't let you down." She murmured softly, taking a step closer, and giving him a soft smile.

Somehow, Riddle felt that she was not talking about Binns anymore.

"So…"She turned around and began chattering away and they sat and talked by the lake for a long time.

* * *

 **Third Person POV**

"For instance, Sowilo is a protection rune. If we draw it, the wearer will be protected, but I was thinking of an alternative, what if you do a protective ritual, will the rune appear on itself. It has to, wizards and witches cannot have copied the runes, somebody either gave the meaning to the rune in the past or they understood the meaning through earth magic. I wish I could find more about these rituals, I have been unable to find good books about this, and this is frustrating to the least…" Cordelia was speaking passionately and then she huffed. They both were sitting by the lake on the grass with their legs outstretched as they casually talked about anything and everything.

Tom looked amused and he let out a light chuckle, "Happens with me too, the arcane pieces of magic are so fascinating. Too bad they are frowned upon now."

"Only in Britain and parts of Europe, actually. The Ministries are too afraid of temperamental pieces of magic, so they started a hidden anti-dark stance in 1789 under the leadership of a fool. What I am afraid is that it is going to get worse…what with Grindelwald killing people right and left in the name of dark." She sighed.

"You do not agree with his stance." He asked carefully, his expressions stoic.

She gave him a wary glance, "And my opinion matters because..."

"I am curious." He admitted.

"I am not a fool Mr. Riddle, I know you dislike Muggleborns, you agree with Grindelwald in some sense, what you want to know is if I agree with you." She gave him an 'I know you well' look and then looked ahead at the lake. "I am a wild card in your scheme of things. Although you dislike Grindelwald too. Perhaps because he is competition, but more likely, you do not agree with his methods. "She intoned and crossed her legs, "No, I do not believe in the ideology of greater good. I believe that people have an intrinsic value that should be respected and though I agree that Muggles are a threat, my ideas on dealing with it are in regards to precaution and defense rather than offense. I hold no grudge against muggle born except the fact that they are stirring us away from true nature of magic with their religious beliefs. I wish we could change their mentality. But I also wish the same for the purists. As a society, we are stagnant, the nobility and the magic are dying, people are forgetting magic, seeking honor in frivolities and gold and stature rather than magic. We need a revolution, a much needed change issued on both sides of dark and light, if there are any sides to magic. To me it is one entity, I am not selective about what kind of magic I support or practice. It is the intent that matters. Does that answer your query?" She breathed deeply, looking at him again.

"You differ from your cousins." He commented lightly.

She just smiled and nodded, "I do, partly. They would never come near Muggles and they would never see the folly of purists. They are still so innocent, makes me wonder all the time."

Riddle 's eyes looked amused at the jab on her cousins and his lips twitched but he refrained from smiling.

Off a sudden, a light alarm blared from Cordelia's wand.

"Curfew," She muttered, looking beyond, "We missed dinner, there are fifteen minutes left to curfew." She hastily got up, "Come on."

"You have put up alarms to alert you of curfew." Riddle's voice was incredulous.

"Believe me, if you missed curfew as much as I did, you would put up alarms too. I don't fancy getting a detention and unfortunately, I lose track of time too often. Eventually, I learned the joys of alarm and reminder charms." She shot back.

"Lose track of time, how?" He looked curious.

"My dear Mr. Riddle, have you ever been introduced to the fascinating and invigorating world of books? I am sure you have, which is why I do not understand the purpose of the query." She said sarcastically.

"No need to be so caustic." Tom chastised.

"I am not being caustic Mr. Riddle. On the contrary, this is me displaying trust in you." She looked amused.

He raised a brow.

"I am dropping the niceties and protocol." She explained.

He rolled his eyes. He actually did that and then he blinked as if he could not believe his own childish move and Cordelia let out a chuckle, "It is nice to be human once in a while, trust me." She softly muttered.

* * *

 **No cliffies, Yay!**

 **Next up will be another interlude.**

 **Thank you everyone, to those who followed and favorited.**

 **Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I usually respond to reviews through PMs until it is a guest reviewer.**

 **If you have any ideas or queries, feel free to PM me or leave a review. If I can't give you a clear cut response, I usually make changes to the story so that your questions are answered.**

 **I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

 **Have a great weekend and week.**


	6. Interlude 2: Dry Eyes

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

4)This is a gender bender. I will bend gender roles like clay, considering it is based in 1940s. :D

* * *

.

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue** ** _"_**

* * *

 **Previously**

 ** _He rolled his eyes. He actually did that and then he blinked as if he could not believe his own childish move and Cordelia let out a chuckle, "It is nice to be human once in a while, trust me." She softly muttered._**

* * *

 **Interlude 2: Dry eyes.**

 **Cordelia's POV**

Dorea's look after she entered the common room with Tom had told her that if Dorea had her way, today would be the 'some day' where she would be explaining Tom's behavior to her. Cordelia did not mind. She honestly needed someone from the Blacks who was on her and Tom's side without question. She gave Dorea a discreet nod and received a widening of eyes in response before she quickly climbed up the stairs.

"What was that Corrie? Since when are you on friendly terms with Heir Slytherin. He threatened you for Merlin's sake." Dorea said agitatedly as soon as the door of Cordelia's room shut. She trusted that Cordelia of all the people had installed the best privacy and silencing wards in her room.

"I told you, I will be fine. He is honestly not that bad." Cordelia said lightly "And he seeked me out, not the other way around."

"Why?" Dorea asked impatiently.

"I sent him a basket too. He was not clear about the reason." Cordelia said lightly as she unbuttoned her Cardigan, her back facing Dorea.

"He threatened you and you sent him a 'thank you' basket!" Dorea was angry and confused.

"No silly, I sent him a basket because he is entertaining." Cordelia swiftly said, she had unbuttoned her shirt and threw it on the bed. Dorea could probably see her bare ivory sides, but her hair acted like a thick curtain to her back. Well, she didn't care.

"Entertaining. You think his megalomania is entertaining!" Dorea began. .

"Define his megalomania." Cordelia asked turning around. She was pleased to see Dorea look away.

"Did you have to change in front of me?" Dorea asked with a little irritation.

"Stop being such a prude, Dory." Cordelia said lightly. She was trying to unnerve Dorea and it was working. She swiftly pulled on a jumper that went to her knees and pulled off her skirt.

"Prude! You stop being…" Dorea looked at her and stopped abruptly at seeing the state of her undress.

Cordelia swiftly put on Pajamas and settled on the bed, sitting cross-legged, sending her clothes flying into her trunk, "Sit." She patted her side.

Dorea, hesitantly came and sat.

"Now, tell me. What about Tom has got you so bothered?" She asked Dorea seriously.

"He is just a bit disconcerting. He does not entertain dissent, he treats other heirs like they are subservient and he has physically hurt many of them when they spoke against him. He is just unnerving. He even threatened you . . . that alone makes him…" Dorea trailed off. "How can you be so calm about this?"

"I told you that there is a reason he is that way. A very valid reason." Cordelia said, gripping her knee in her palm.

"And you know the reason, when I, who has lived with him for the past three years, doesn't? When he has not confided in you?" Dorea began, her tone irritable.

"No, you do know. You just are not willing to look past your conceptions." Cordelia said easily.

"You have always had a good head, Corrie. You have been more mature than your years, far mature than me, which is why I trust you to deal with matters, trust you to lead the House of Black in the best way, but this time, you are wrong." Dorea said.

'Oh Dory, I am maybe more mature, but that does not mean I am not prone to mistakes, even Uncle Arcturus makes them." Cordelia said slowly.

"And there that point, Father. Riddle has not bound you in any oath and yet you have not warned our head of house about him, why?" Dorea asked in a tone of accusation.

"Because it is not Uncle's business." Cordelia said simply, giving Dorea a grave look.

Dorea just stared in astonishment.

"Oh, don't give me that look. You know your father very well. You know he is going to suck off Tom's power and manipulate him into the seventh hell. Do you honestly want to send Tom, a mere 14 year old, against him? Just throw him to the wolves." Cordelia said bluntly.

Dorea looked taken aback.

"I never thought you would be…" Dorea said a while later.

"So, coarse, callous?" Cordelia offered choices nonchalantly and slumped down on her pillow and lay down.

Dorea sighed, "You have always been so refined."

"I am refined, that does not mean that I don't see the blemishes of others." Cordelia offered with a shrug.

"That's my father you are speaking about." Dorea said in a hard tone.

"I speak nothing but truth and you know that. Remember Aunt Charis, remember Uncle Marius, thrown to wolves for the betterment of the family." Cordelia said blandly, as if she was discussing weather, "And I do not deny that giving up Tom might have benefits for our line, at least in some of your perceptions, but you are underestimating Tom. He is a 14 year old, but he has somethings that you have no clue about. He is innocent in a way, but as you said dangerous. I have thought long and hard and I have not made this decision lightly. We can't throw him to the wolves because he is a snake. You will never know when he will strike back."

Dorea's shoulders sagged in defeat, "He will use Riddle, for his own means." She said while biting her lip.

"He will, I mean look at the heirs in the court. All of them are part of the court because they are hoping to play Riddle and they are not realizing what an accomplished manipulator Riddle is. Abraxas and Orion are busy in their hero worship and Alphard wants to bring him down by being a part of his circle and the entire facade is juvenile. Riddle is not juvenile, most of the times anyway." Cordelia informed.

"Why are you so concerned about Riddle?" Dorea asked.

"It is hard not to be. Remember what Grandmother said, I am a humanitarian." She said the last word sarcastically.

"Grannie Nia saw the humanitarian in everybody!" Dorea said with a little exasperation.

Cordelia cracked a smile at that.

"Why does Riddle need your humanity? He is powerful, he is cruel." Dorea asked.

"He is powerful, yes. I am powerful too, don't I need some compassion? He is cruel, really! He might be, for all I know, but is it that unwarranted?" Cordelia asked, staring at the ceiling.

"How can you excuse it?" Dorea asked.

"I am not excusing anything. This is not a justification, merely an explanation. How much do you really know about Riddle?" Cordelia asked, fixing a piercing gaze on Dorea.

"He is an orphan. He lives in London. He is very good at magic and is powerful too. He has a very well built mask." Dorea said.

'That's it." Cordelia gave her an unimpressed look.

'It's not as if I am writing his biography." Dorea said indignantly, and then added a bit bitterly, "He spends most of time with boys anyway. What can girls do in politics? And Orion refuses to say anything and Alphard is too much of a child to notice something and Riddle is unreadable without his facade on. He does not give anything up."

"Where does he live in London?" Cordelia asked.

"Nobody knows, but an orphanage. He does not seem too happy about it either, He has been requesting Dumbledore for letting him stay over the summers since first year. I discovered it last year when I became prefect. The requests went through me." Dorea revealed.

"Why do you think he is so secretive?" Cordelia kept up the questioning.

"Because he has an agenda. He does not want his weakness revealed out there in open." Dorea tried answering.

"No, he has not revealed the address because he does not trust anybody in this school. Yes, he has bound all of you in oaths, but there are ways around oaths. But the main reason is that he is ashamed. Do you know why that might be? I mean why would an heir of Slytherin be ashamed?" Cordelia asked innocently.

Dorea struggled, "Because he is a half blood."

"Yeah, right. Do you remember his first year? How many of the purebloods offered a powerful orphan their support in our house?" Cordelia continued her innocent tone.

Dorea stayed silent.

"Why are you silent? Is it because they did not offer support to an 11 year old boy who was living a hard life in muggle world? Is it because they bullied him incessantly? Is it because, a mere mudblood to their eyes was better at magic than them? Is it because, this world, 'his' world, made him feel so alien that he treats everyone with hostility and distrust?" Cordelia's volume increased with each question. Cordelia glared at Dorea.

"I could not do anything. I was in third year. The men don't listen to women anyway." Dorea said in a low voice.

"So you turned the other way. And then when Tom replied back in kind, revealed his parseltongue, treated the purebloods the same way the purebloods treated him, he became an antagonist in your eyes? Why? Because it is easy to blame Riddle rather than look in your conscience?" Cordelia was furious. "I daresay Tom treats his courtiers and House in a better way than purebloods treat those of 'inferior' blood. He treats them in a better way than Uncle Arcturus treated Uncle Marius. And you, you are like my father, a docile observer, who absolved herself of any responsibility." Cordelia had risen up, resting her body weight on her elbows.

Dorea stayed silent.

"So you see, Tom has a reason for treating everyone the way he does. Can you tell me the same for the purebloods who treated him that way, except for that spurious notion of blood purity?" Cordelia was very angry.

"Charlie would like to have this conversation with you." Dorea said lowly, "Blood Purity, I mean."

"Well, too bad, I am having this conversation with 'you' right now, Charlie can wait." Cordelia replied back, her eyes passionate then she toned it down, "You have a good head, Dory, and I know you don't buy into this blood purity. . . I am thinking that is why you are attracted to Charlie. You are taking the easy way out from a family who is big on blood purity to a light family who opposes it."

"I love Charlie and don't you dare suggest some Merlin forsaken reason for this." Dorea snapped.

"I never denied your love for him. You do love him, but love is complicated Dory, I am just pointing out one of your motivations for it. Since when are you an advocate for the light side's issues?" Cordelia said calmly and asked pointedly.

"I am not an advocate, what are you. . ." Dorea sputtered.

"You say Merlin instead of Morgana now." Cordelia said quietly, "Merlin, a name that is considered so light that children of dark families are taught not to use his name, the hard way. And today, you used it twice in this conversation," She had sat up.

Dorea froze, "I spend time with Charlie and the Gryffindors." She said faintly, but she sounded unconvinced.

"Ahmmm" Cordelia hummed, "Then why the need of secrecy? I never once heard you speak it at home, in front of Uncle or your mother or other elders. Why here? Because you know our cousins are dunces and would not realize this subtle change until it is too late. You forgot about me, didn't you? I am so quiet that you did not think I would realize, or you thought I would not voice it? Do I need to write to Aunt Ariel and express my doubts about the courtship?" Cordelia asked very provokingly.

Dorea's jaw was set, not in stubbornness but in anger, "Do whatever you wish!"

"Hmm, I think I will, regardless. I am not going to write to her, if I wanted to, I would have wrote in the first week when I met Charlie." Cordelia said lightly.

"So are you threatening me? Holding that knowledge over my head?" Dorea asked in a betrayed and angry voice.

"No, none of that. You forget, you are my sister and you also forget that how much I condone the philosophy of greater good. I did not approve in case of Charis, I did not approve in case of Uncle Marius, and I certainly would not be the cause of something like that happening to you. I am just ensuring that you know that you have a family, and as heartless they are at times, they are still your family. Mindlessly choosing light because you do not understand the methods of dark is not the best decision." Cordelia said.

The fire in Dorea's eyes died a little, "I don't know what you are talking about?" She was still adamant.

"Really!" Cordelia said with mock surprise.

Dorea gave her a glare and Cordelia let out a laugh, "I love you Dory, but heiress or not, I am thinking for the best of the Blacks. Pursue your courtship with Charles Potter, all you want, support and cherish light as much as you want, but do not forget that dark is being oppressed too. They are oppressive yes, but the light is oppressive too. You are stuck between two evils and you are choosing the one you are not intimately aware about simply because you don't know the problems of light yet."

"And are you thinking the best for Blacks when you are busy consorting with Riddle?" Dorea said bitterly, not giving an answer.

"I am." Cordelia said simply, "The best bet for Blacks to survive is to befriend him, not be subservient to him and not to oppose him, and not to put him down. You do not know Riddle the way I do. And do not try to sidestep my comment. Is it because I am right?"

Dorea's shoulders sagged in defeat the second time, "How do you read people so well?" She asked in a small voice.

Cordelia shrugged, "I read you because I care about you."

Dorea just looked at her, then said after she gathered herself, "You don't buy into blood purism but you don't like the stance of light either." It was a question, not a statement.

"I don't." Cordelia had again lay down and she looked up and sideways to answer Dorea.

"Which side are you on?" Dorea asked in confusion.

"None." Cordelia popped her lips, as if she was enjoying the inquisition.

"Riddle supports the dark." Dorea said indignantly.

"Does he?" Cordelia said doubtfully, "He is a master manipulator, he is giving the Slytherin heirs what they want. I won't be so sure about his stance just yet, but he is a dark wizard, yes."

Before Dorea could ask, Cordelia begun, "I do not think that light and dark is a just division. It is political division driven by nefarious agendas to partition magicals into two sides for profits to 'n' number of related parties. Riddle knows what other Slytherins have told him, but I am not sure if he buys into their version. He is constantly researching into it, I checked the library records but yes, his main ideal is that all forms of magic must be free, even light, even though he does not quite phrase like that. But you and I both know, he will not find a correct version of the rift in Hogwarts Library. So I am hoping to nudge him in the right direction."

"You plan to use him…" Dorea said bluntly.

"No," Cordelia said without even thinking, "No, I don't plan to use him. Riddle is an unknown variable, yes, and I would like that he forms an informed opinion about the entire wizarding World and I hope that he uses his power and influence for good, but that is just a hope. I hope for him to have something that is rightfully his, his legacy, his opinions, his independence. I hope to achieve an understanding between light and dark and I hope to achieve a state where light and dark does not matter, but that is all me, I am not going to drag Riddle into it if he does not want to. He is also a person, not just a variable."

"You are being very gracious with him." Dorea noted.

'Well, he is gracious to me." Cordelia said, with a one shoulder shrug.

"How?" Dorea asked with one brow raised.

"He does not underestimate me like the rest of heirs do. Even though his hostility toward me is irritating because I want to befriend him, it kind of flatters me as well. He took me seriously even though I am a woman. He is rare in that matter." Cordelia told.

"You are the heiress of the house of Black. You are not underestimated." Dorea pointed out, "Father chose you over Oree, over Affy."

"He knows my abilities and he values them yes, but he underestimates me. All of the people do. All the time. I am not even sure if it is deliberate. I might be magically powerful in their eyes, but they still think I understand little of politics, they still think that I cannot use my power as well as they could if it were in their hands. And they don't just do it to me, they do it you and you, in turn, do it to me. It is such a vicious circle." Cordelia elaborated.

"Oh, yeah, I definitely underestimated you." Dorea gave her a dark look.

Cordelia let out a giggle at that, "Oh Dory." and Dorea gave a reluctant, indulging smile and then begun laughing with her too, shaking her head.

"What are your plans?" Dorea asked after their laughter subsided.

Cordelia looked at her thoughtfully, "I have a lot of them, but yeah, I want Tom Marvolo Riddle to feel safe in magical world and I want him to know that he can count on me to not use him. The rest will come after that."

"Safe from what?" Dorea asked.

"Well, people. He was bullied, hurt by those who should have embraced him. This was his world and he was abused here too."

"What do you mean by 'too'?" Dorea asked.

"See, you have such a sharp mind. You should stop following boys and use it for yourself. But here,' Cordelia said a little sassily. She sighed and took out something from the drawer of her sidetable after hissing the password in parseltongue and sat up, facing Dorea.

It was a medical report from Hogwarts Infirmary.

"Madam Underhill has been familiarizing me with the infirmary. She is hoping that I would be her teaching assistant come NEWTs and help her out in the infirmary once in a while, maybe over the weekends." Cordelia said without preamble.

"That is great news. Is that what you want to be, a healer?" Dorea asked.

"Yes apart from Politics, that is, it does not just require strength but finesse as well, so I will have to work for it, but that is beside the point right now. She has been familiarizing me with the 'At risk' cases of Hogwarts in case of an emergency and if somebody needs medical attention when she is not available for any reason. I found Tom's file in that." Cordelia told, her expression very serious.

Dorea looked at it seriously, "Yeah well, he was injured a few times in the first year until he began fighting back. His wandless magic..." She gulped.

"It is not that. This report also has the vaccine and other checks that muggleborn students go through in their first week." Cordelia said seriously.

"I did not know that they recorded that." Dorea appeared confused.

"Yes, they do. The purebloods do not know because they do not care. Other Professors do not know as well. This is strictly between Dippet and Madam Underhill. But there is no healer- patient privilege here, so she could show it to me. Madam trusts me to keep it to myself." Cordelia said softly, "But I am telling you because I need you to understand."

Dorea swiftly went through it, "He was bullied in his orphanage." She said in a low and sad voice after perusing it.

Cordelia nodded, "And that is not it. There is war in the muggle world and Britain is, it is at heart of it. The food is scarce, everything is scarce. There are bombs, similar to the spell of bombarda , being dropped everywhere. Riddle could die out there and no one would care. He is not ashamed about him home, no, he is afraid of it. He, maybe, hates it."

"Then why isn't he getting a stay in Hogwarts? I mean surely, if explained properly, his case is. I mean Hogwarts has served as a refuge in wars of magic, surely it can offer aid to one student." Dorea was indignant.

"Dumbledore." Cordelia said one word, very sombrely. "He thinks Tom is cooking it up. He has not once forwarded the application to Dippet. I sneaked in, well I snooped around. Dippet has no records of the requests. They go through the Deputy headmaster first and I know for a fact that Tom sent the requests. Abe asked around when I prompted him."

"Abe knows about your…" Dorea asked.

"No, but he trusts me to handle anything. That is why I said Tom is just rare. Abe sees me for who I am. That is why I have always been fonder of him than Oree or Affy." Cordelia bit her lip.

"Dumbledore is such as... Charlie hates him, you know." Dorea began angrilly.

"Why does Charlie hate him?" Cordelia asked, now curious.

"Well, Dumbledore has a very skewed perception of things. He guides the Gryffindors in a very weird way, almost as if feeding them a doctrine. Worse than Riddle. Minerva is caught up in it and Charlie is worried." Dorea told.

'What do you think of him?" Cordelia asked.

"He is two-faced old coot. He treated me with downright hostility in the early years and last year when I started talking to Charlie and this year, our courtship, he is all smiles and that twinkle. As if he is telling me that I made the right decision." Dorea said a bit sullenly.

"Yes, he has a very skewed version of what is right and light and how everyone should go about it?" Cordelia said, she pulled her lips inside her mouth for a jiffy, tilted her head and thought carefully and then released them with a sigh.

"You are going to be in trouble if Riddle finds out that you have this." Dorea pointed out.

"I know, that is why we have to keep quiet about this. My impression is that he does not know about the existence of the file too. I am going to keep it hidden with me, so that no unwanted eyes pry on this and it is safe. That it, until I gain his confidence and give it to him." Cordelia sighed.

"You are serious about helping him." Dorea asked.

"The world, muggle and magical have been unkind to him. I am just trying to right a wrong. But yes, I will help him, at any cost." Cordelia said giving a 'I don't have a choice' look.

"No, you have a choice Corrie, your heart is just too good to pick the other one." Dorea muttered, and Cordelia gave a sheepish smile at that.

"Do you need me for anything? Don't hesitate, I might look…" Dorea begun.

"Speak your mind, take part in the politics. I am going to invite you to the court meeting. Riddle invited me for the next one. You can come and listen at first. You are good at it. You are a powerful witch, as powerful as Charlie okay. He is your equal, men are our equal, not superior. I am going to prove that, but I need help. I cannot be the odd witch who can best men. I want to be in a group of witches that can kick their butts and be less vain about it than them." Cordelia said passionately.

"Kick their butts, you are spending time with Alphard." Dorea sniffed her nose.

"Well, it is just an expression and I can use it. Just because I am a woman, doesn't mean that I cannot curse." Cordelia slumped back in her bed, mussing her pillow.

"You are serious about this, aren't you?" Dorea sighed in acceptance.

Cordelia nodded impishly.

"Alright, I will participate. Charlie always says I have good and informed opinions on the moves of Ministry. He likes to discuss it with me." Dorea said determinedly but blushed a little by the end.

"He does!" Cordelia said happily, "Well, he is a keeper then."

Dorea begun laughing.

Cordelia rubbed her eyes sleepily.

"You have been working in nights as well? You need to take care of yourself." Dorea asked with concern, "You spent the other night completely awake, trying to convince those heirs of Riddle's leadership. Did you stay up any other night?"

"Nah, I was just finishing that book on wards. I have to start on a new book. I just tried healing a lot today. Madam Underhill might let me take the minor cases if I demonstrate... I wish I could use parseltongue for magic. It takes a lot less effort. Don't remind me of the night. I had to spend hours to convince them to give Riddle a chance on the condition that Riddle would not do anything to me if I entered his room and left unscathed. Then I spent time till morning, again arguing with the lot of them until their acquiescence. That dunce Lestrange made it all the more harder." Cordelia yawned.

"Well, be careful about parseltongue. Riddle will never trust you if he finds out about that." Dorea warned, "And sleep. And am I to understand that you plan to keep Lucy and Burga out of this, and even Oree and Affy?"

"They will not understand." Cordelia replied sleepily.

"No, they won't." Dorea agreed, "So it is just you and me." Dorea sighed and saw that Cordelia was already adrift, her breathing even.

She quietly left.

Cordelia's eyes snapped open as soon as the door closed. She cast a tempus, and rushed inside her second trunk, climbing down hurriedly, bypassing layers of security, but rushing down the maze of stairs instead of using the elevator, not even pausing for looking at the way. She could navigate her trunk blindly. Siddharth had made sure of that.

She went down to the 11th layer and stared at the unmoving portrait of Dorea Potter when she was about 20-30. The smiling visage of her grandmother. Narcissa had remembered her aunt's face and had painted it for her. It did not talk like other magical portraits. Her essence was missing. The portrait that had the essence was in the Potter manor that had burned down when Juniper had been 3 months old. Narcissa had not seen Dorea, her aunt after Narcissa turned 3 year old. Dorea had stopped all contact with the Blacks sometime after her marriage, too hassled by their blood purism and megalomania and their support for Voldemort. One voice of reason in the Blacks had relinquished the Blacks. Cordelia had to prevent that and she thought that she had done a fairly good job of it tonight.

She glanced at the portrait beside it, Charles Potter. Narcissa had met him once in the Ministry when she had gone to register her marriage with Lucius Malfoy and had taken a wrong route alone. Narcissa said that he had been kind to her despite everything and had asked away after the other Blacks. He had also expressed his sadness and helplessness in the light of the meaningless war and had escorted her safely back to the Atrium. Narcissa had been so overwhelmed that she had not said anything to him. But she had painted the portrait of a 50 something man for June and the kindness she had seen had been reflected back in that portrait. Also reflected was Narcissa's sorrow. Charles Potter and Dorea Potter had died at the hand of Bellatrix in the raid of Potter manor in search of their son James and daughter-in law Lily. The Death eaters had burned the manor down.

Cordelia gulped. She had never known this as Juniper until she had turned 18. Only after war, only after...Tears escaped her eyes once again. She had not known the full name of her grandparents and when she had looked at the wedding album of her parents, she had been unable to identify them, never knowing how they looked. Apparently, one of the early deatheaters had cursed Dorea with a curse that had left her almost barren. They could only have one child, James, who gave birth to only her, Juniper.

She wiped her tears

'You won't die in a meaningless war this time. I promise!' She slowly said, "I will prepare you, I will make you a part of a larger group who want magic as one. You will live a long life, have sons and daughters, and grandchildren and they will have a chance to know you unlike me.' Her voice broke and she sat on the floor and cried until her eyes dried.

* * *

 **Author Note: There is a slight change from the previous chapters.**

 **Nicknames:**

 **Dorea: Dory instead of Rea.**

 **Lucretia: Lucy instead of Tia/Luc**

 **I will change the previous chapters to reflect the change when I come back.**

 **This week I made my 100th follower. Thank you everyone for the support.**

 **I know today is not a Saturday, but I am taking a trip and I will not have access to Internet, so I am updating early. Next update will be on 30th January.**


	7. 544 year old rule & 900 year old history

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) This is a gender bender. Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances and nineteen years later. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

4)This is a gender bender. I will bend gender roles like clay, considering it is based in 1940s. :D

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue"**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: 544 years old rule and 900 years old History**

 **Tom's POV**

The Quidditch trials for the Slytherin team happened on Saturday in late afternoon.

Cordelia had pulled 'As the king, you ought to come' card on him. He had glared at her but it did not seem to have an effect. Well, he had brought it upon himself. She, unlike him, thoroughly enjoyed Quidditch. He did not see why.

They both had carried their books in the stands and she had soon deemed the trials to be boring and started telling him the history and development of Quidditch, which he found more fascinating than the sport.

They both had finished all the work and had read ahead too.

Cordelia was telling him fascinating bits about the history of Beauxabatons and French wizardry, when Alphard and Anastius zoomed by the stand and came to a standstill.

"We are the beaters!" Alphard exclaimed happily.

"Well, you were always more brawny, cousin!" Cordelia bit her lip as she stifled her laughter. "Of course, you made it. I have ever seen a toddler use his fists so enthusiastically. Especially when Walburga threw a hissy fit, you always hit away the stuff she started throwing out." Anastius guffawed out, Riddle looked amused.

Alphard turned red at the mention of that, "And I did it to save the others..." He did not look pleased.

At that Cordelia burst out giggling. It was a soft, melodic laugh and her eyes were dancing with sparkle.

"What is up with Flint?" Her laughter subsided and her brows furrowed.

"We cannot find a good seeker,"Anastius shrugged, "They are decent, but you know...Lestrange has tried out, even though he has the built of a keeper or beater,"

"I doubt he would be good in even those positions, He is too stiff," Cordelia said dryly.

Alphard and Anastius's brows shot up and they gave a scared side glance to Riddle.

Riddle looked at them with a raised brow but he did not look bothered by her jab.

"The team line up is fine, I mean Flint is good, Oree and Abe work well with each other, Burke keeps up. You two make a good team but you realize that Burke looks almost disinterested. He would rather study and both he and Flint are going to leave next year. You should ideally be training reserves and here we are short on actual playing team. The odds do not look that good to me." Cordelia said bluntly, raising a brow at them.

"I did not know you were good at Quidditch plays, Cordelia. That is an astute observation, but what do we do about it?" Anastius looked impressed.

"Improve the team. I will not have Slytherins lose in a game." Tom said with disdain. Cordelia gave him an amused look at his 'helping' answer.

"Quidditch cup counts for a good per cent of the house cup. A win in one has resulted in a win the latter almost in 98% cases." Cordelia put in, "It is very simple, find a good seeker."

"Well. What are the odds of having one seeker in 100 odd people, who were all raised to be purebloods and thus do know how to ride a broom?" Alphard mused out loud.

"I would not be so presumptive." Cordelia said in a clipped tone. She beat Tom to it whose face had gone rigid at the assumption.

Alphard begun to say something but one look at Cordelia's warning look promptly shut him up.

"Also, you are miscounting, you have 60 people to search from. The rest are females, and as far as I know, females have never been a part of the Slytherin team. Trust me, I researched after Burga's jab that day. "Cordelia said vindictively.

"You sound like you want us to lose." Zabini said in a wry tone.

"I am being realistic chaps," Cordelia did not even look affronted.

Tom looked at her and raised a brow.

"You can have bad chasers and keeper but a seeker is what matters the most. It tilts the entire game. How can you hope to improve the team if somebody does not point out the faults?" Cordelia said nonchalantly, "You guys need to pull your act together! The people trying out are horrendous..."She gave one look to them and looked at Riddle," Are you done with your equations in Arithmancy? I think that Mr. Monroe has given us a flawed problem. I have tried to solve it with multiple ways and the variables cancel each other out, I wanted to check if I copied the problem right or if you had any other suggestions to solve the problem. I completely forgot to bring up the problem last night"

"She gave the problem set on Friday at 2, that was like 29 hours ago, you are already done with it." Riddle raised a brow.

"As if you are not done," She scoffed.

"I am not done with the last one..." Riddle acquiesced.

She gave him a triumphant look.

"We should be packing up. It is getting dark. Cordelia, my lord."Anastius said.

Just then, shouts rose from the center of the field.

Tom gave a pointed Look to Zabini.

"Stay here, Alphard, I will find out."Anastius said quickly and bounded towards the rest of team.

He returned in a jiffy, looking annoyed, "Lestrange let out the snitch . The trials were supposed to be with practice balls. The snitch is now lost. Renatus, I am afraid is not up for the task for finding it at all and Burke says it is too dark for him, and we cannot lose it. It is school property, we will come out looking as incompetent." He swiftly said, while trying to keep the despair and disdain in his voice away. "Where in the world do we even look for it?"

"Well, you should start with the top of the lake, the snitch is fluttering in the center ..."Cordelia said in a matter of fact tone.

All three boys immediately looked towards it.

"It is, but how?" Anastius looked flabbergasted

"Well it is a golden ball against the sky. It gives a distinctive shine, not that hard to keep track of. It was near the Keeper's post when you guys started arguing." Cordelia shrugged, looking up for a moment from the piles of parchment in her arms.

"Call the rest of them here," Tom said succinctly.

After five minutes of listening to various suggestions that everybody had, or rather the accusations that flew around, Tom had enough.

Cordelia merely looked amused.

"Well, I do not fancy falling in the lake, I will come out looking as an idiot. The house of Lestrange will value its heir more than a puny snitch. My allowance will take care of it." Lestrange argued back.

Cordelia let out a light chuckle.

"You have any problem with that Black!" He sneered.

"You do not need to fall in the lake to display your idiocy and incompetence, Lestrange. Everybody present in the field has already bore witness to that. I am merely charmed by your efforts to completely ignore your fault and revert the responsibility to finances. How Slytherin!" Cordelia said with a brilliant smile. Her sarcasm was not lost on anybody. Riddle smirked and the rest of the team sniggered.

Renatus turned red and flapped about like an unruly fish, "Do not meddle in things you cannot understand Black. You are just a pretty face. I doubt you even know what end of broomstick comes in front, much less to go and catch a snitch."

"I am flattered you think I am pretty" Cordelia said dryly, "And as for the rest, is that a challenge, Heir Lestrange?"

He just sneered.

Cordelia threw a questioning glance at Riddle. He gave a nod.

"Well in that case, accepted. Abraxas, may I borrow your broom?"

All her cousins began to say something to prevent her from taking off but the looks on Cordelia and Tom's face silenced them.

Cordelia took off with such an easy grace,

"My lord, "Abraxas began with fear.

"Have some faith Abraxas. If your cousin can ride a hippogriff and land unscathed, I dare say that she can handle a broom." Tom cut him off and gave him a look.

"And as for you Renatus, I do not think I gave you any leave to challenge her like that. We will address your insubordination later." He threw Renatus a death glare.

"My lord, she insulted me." Renatus looked stricken.

"And you brought it upon yourself with your idiocy. She is not a part of court and she does not bow to me like the members of court and yet she followed protocol and asked my leave to even accept your challenge, when she did not need to. And you did not think about the potential conflict within the house when you issued a non-sensible threat and challenge to a woman no less." Riddle said scathingly, "Now spare me your theatrics, I have a House member to be concerned about"

Cordelia was zooming about the night sky. Her eyes shone and sparkled from a far.

"It is almost like she is born to fly." Flint murmured.

She was above the lake. She flew with the easy grace that she always carried herself with and then she chased something for a bit and then went into a steep dive.

"She is going to sink into the lake." Burke exclaimed.

But she pulled just above the surface of water and her feet hovered above the surface by a couple of inches. She raised her hand and something glinted in it.

"She caught the snitch." Alphard spoke in wonder.

She flew back at twice the speed towards them, easily got off the broom and offered the snitch to Flint, "Secure it," and gave the broom back to a speechless Abraxas.

She turned around and gave a small smile, "Well, all the best for finding a better player. I shall take my leave." She summoned her things and started to turn around towards the stairs.

"Ms. Black!" Tom called out.

"Yes, Mr. Riddle." She turned around. Her face held a different sense of peace. She gave a small smile to him.

"You are the new seeker of the Slytherin team." Riddle said. Lestrange looked murderous, and the others were gleeful.

Cordelia did not refuse or accept. There was not even a twitch on her face, "There has never been a women in the Slytherin team since the conception of Quidditch formally in 1398. 544 years."

"Well, it was their loss if any of the women played like you." Riddle said evenly. "This goes against the supposed tradition, but I believe that you and I both agree that Slytherin follows a lot of stale traditions which are better discarded aside along with several Olde magic which should be reinstated. This would be the beginning. I doubt anybody in the team disagrees but I will let Flint make the final call since he is supposed to be the captain." He looked at Flint.

"When can you begin?"Flint smirked.

"Hell yes," Alphard exclaimed.

Lestrange was silenced with a look from Riddle. And he was not a part of the team anyways.

"We need to win. Slytherin is ambitious, we know how to achieve our goals. It would be foolish to not allow you." Burke seconded Alphard's opinion.

Cordelia cracked a small smile, "Very well, keep me updated on the practice schedule."

She curtsied and nodded towards Riddle and left.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

On Sunday, the news of Cordelia's appointment should have spread like wildfire but it was still a closely guarded secret among the team and Riddle and Cordelia. One thing was granted, Slytherin did keep secrets better than Gryffindor ever did.

Apparently, the team considered her an ace up their sleeve.

The team had not shown much emotion in front of Riddle, except for Alphard but later around dinner, they had caught up with her. Flint had picked her up and squeezed the life out of her in a hug and blabbered about where she had been the entirety of his life. He looked mighty pleased. Burke had affectionately ruffled her hair and patted her on back, thanking her for allowing him to drop a position and play chaser and to keep her flying up.

Orion and Alphard looked ecstatic. Orion did not stop talking pompously and Alphard was gushing. Abraxas was more mellowed, he had buried his head in her hair and whispered his congratulations in a whisper and then went on to commend her about having kept such a secret from such a Slytherin family, and apologized about the way things were and said firmly that she should not have had to hide her talent on broom just because she was a girl.

To say that Cordelia was touched was an understatement. She had gotten slightly teary and hugged him tighter, but when they both separated, their masks were back in place.

Anastius had just looked at her starry eyed and claimed that she was his favorite player from right now and how he was proud of having her in the team.

She had just smiled and shook her head in exasperation and then thanked all of them for welcoming her.

On Sunday afternoon, Flint had announced the news to the rest of House in Riddle's presence. Most of the house had taken it in silence, but there were curious looks, Dorea looked very pleased and she nodded proudly at Cordelia, Walburga was scandalized, Lucretia gave her a small smile, though it held confusion. The House was warned to maintain the secrecy.

Riddle looked stoic and impassive though he did invite her to sit with the court and present what she wanted to do with Binns.

The Court was torn between having a decent teacher and having a free class to sleep in. Abraxas supported her, Orion too hesitantly did it. The rest of the court followed. Lestrange had some severe problems with the arrangement. He voiced his opinion, very harshly, "She is a pampered little lass, what does she know of politics?" And some other garbage about her.

It was Abraxas who beat Riddle and Cordelia to retort back at him. Anastius Zabini followed soon after.

Riddle had a satisfied look on his face.

Now Cordelia was confused, " _Riddle could not have warmed up to her so quickly, could he_?"

But the meeting ended with Burke, Abraxas and Rosier aiding in Research of the by laws of faculty appointment in Hogwarts and Anastius and Orion aiding in putting in the word with other heads of houses. Cordelia put in her two shoe by saying that they could use the betrothed or courting couples to pass along the information, like Lucretia and Dorea. The other houses would believe it if the information came for reliable sources like their close ones.

Riddle affirmed.

Zabini in the end roped her, Riddle , Abraxas, Burke and Alphard to play in a wizarding trivia board game.* It was nothing just a square intricate board with a small glass dome in the center.

"What exactly is this contraption?" Abraxas questioned, "I have never seen anything like it."

"I suppose we need to form teams. One team will ask the questions displayed in the crystal dome and one team needs to answer. We get points for correct answers. The dome will say if the answers are correct based on a rune and charm that will detect truth and confidence to an extent. The more points you have, the higher your chances of winning." Cordelia deduced.

"Yep." Anastius nodded. "So who is pairing up?"

In the end, they paired Riddle and her together even though Abraxas muttered about it being unfair. Anastius and Alphard paired themselves together for cheering and Burke and Abraxas were left to compete with the two prodigies

"Alright then, first question, Name the species on the basis of characteristics: pearly scales and pupil less eyes."

"Antipodean Opaleye." Riddle said in a bored tone and Cordelia chimed.

"Correct, "Abraxas grimaced.

"It is a dragon native to one of the penal colonies near the south pole." Tom answered the unasked question.

"Bingo." Cordelia beamed.

"The name of the creature often called the Lochness monster." Riddle read out.

"What is that?"

The game went on.

"Who started the cleansweep company?" Cordelia asked with a smile.

She and Riddle were winning. They had answered every single question including critical questions in spell theory, warding, healing, potions. Cordelia answered as much as Riddle did though she generally chose to answer more obscure ones or Quidditch questions. Her eye and speech for detail and the variety of her knowledge astounded Riddle. They had developed an audience. The entire upper years were throwing around bets and keenly watching. The audience were wondering if there would be a question that would stump the winning duo.

"Ollerton Brothers." Abraxas beamed, happy to be able to answer one question.

Cordelia nodded.

"Has the committee of disposal of dangerous creatures ever executed a hippogriff? If yes, when was the last time it happened?" Burke had a Cheshire grin on his face.

Cordelia knew that he wanted them to play a pass with this question. The pass was quite possible because it was a question about meaningless knowledge that was technically useless to Riddle or her.

All breaths were stopped. Riddle looked annoyed.

Everybody was convinced that their winning streak would halt with this question.

Riddle and Cordelia shared a look. She looked unconcerned, "Leave it to me, Mr. Riddle!"

She cleared her throat, folded her hands, and looked eagerly into the faces of the opposition with a big, mischievous, teasing smile, "The Committee of disposal of dangerous creatures has indeed ordered such an execution before. The most recent one being in 1772."

"Correct!" Abraxas said faintly.

"What?" It was Riddle and not the opposing team who exclaimed and looked at her as if she had grown another head, "Excuse my bewilderment, Ms. Black but how in the world do you know such random and useless bit of trivia?"

The rest of the house shared his sentiments.

"I read it once. It just lasted in my memory." She shrugged.

"All right, what does the eihwaaz mean?" She promptly asked.

Burke answered.

"Does the main line of Ravenclaw branch exists? If not, then who did it die with?" Abraxas asked. People perked up. It was a difficult question but the odds were Cordelia knew the answer.

"No, the main line of Rowena Ravenclaw died with Helena Ravenclaw, her daughter, who was killed by the Baron. However, Ravenclaw was actually a clan which was slaughtered in Mundane raids. Rowena was the only survivor. She met the other founders on run." Cordelia said automatically, blinking as if in a daze.

Abraxas twisted his lips and muttered something but then said aloud, "Correct."

The crowd went into chatter

"Lord Slytherin and Ms Black win." Anastius Zabini looked gleeful.

Alphard was amused.

Cordelia got up, curtsied to Riddle and thanked him for being her partner, curtsied to everybody else, pecked Abraxas on his cheek, consoling him, he hugged her back and they were muttering to each other, but all throughout she could feel Riddle's eyes on her.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

She met up with her cousins from other houses, and hung out with Dorea through dinner. She was avoiding Riddle. Avoiding him meant that he would get angry. His anger would get the best of him and she will wheedle out of his questions very easily.

Just as she was entering the girls' dormitory door, an arm in front of her stopped her in her tracks.

"Mr. Riddle." She gave a Cheshire grin even before spotting his face but turned around to face him.

"You owe me some explanations, Ms. Black." He said in a light tone, but the tightness around his eyes gave away his ire.

"Regarding what?" Cordelia feigned innocence.

"I dare say that I do not think that you are unintelligent, but in regards to your knowledge about certain topics, it unsettled me." He said in a tight tone, almost grinding his teeth.

"Nothing you would not find in some textbooks, the right ones, the ones that I assure you are permanent fixtures of pureblood libraries, especially the ancient and noble houses. I am sure once you obtain your title legally, you will have access to such a library yourselves." She said lightly.

"I doubt that the history of Ravenclaw house is so readily available, Slytherin still has heirs but his history is merely a legend, and his deeds, some may call them myth." Riddle retorted. He was controlling his anger, but his eyes had darkened and some of the anger seemed through the cracks in his mask.

"I know how important family histories are. I am afraid, I am not too sure about Slytherin, but he would have been devastated at the state of Hogwarts now. All of them would have been, the founders. Very well, the Blacks are distantly related to the Ravenclaw, or rather to one of the beneficiaries of Ravenclaw's inheritance. The name of the beneficiary is lost, much was lost. I chanced upon one old parchment in the main Black vault, and I found a poem on it. It is called the Claws of raven, written in old Gaelic. It might have been fictitious for all I know, but I love old languages and I translated it. The story was there, and when they posed me the question, I took a chance. I am afraid that I do not have access to it any more. Though the line of Ravenclaw is most certainly dead and it died with Helena Ravenclaw. Rowena was alive for some time, that much is known but she was sick. A journal was found by the department of Mysteries a while ago. It is under tight wards because of some magical information but my father works with them so he told me about the discovery since I am generally very curious. The game probably works with a complex truth detector and it knew that I was speaking the truth. I do not have anything else to offer you." She finished her monologue.

"That was a family secret that you revealed." He asked lightly. His anger was almost absent, instead he looked surprised.

"It is a family secret, yes! Not a closely guarded one, neither one that many take heed of. I assure you my cousins would know nothing of it, do not blame them." She said in a warning tone, albeit a light one.

Riddle's eyes flared. She had told that to him to protect her cousins, not to help him out.

"And what about the clans of Veela? They guard their knowledge closely and are very secretive." He said, his tone, hostile again, referring to one of the questions she had answered in the game.

"And I can be very persuasive." She said sharply, looking at him. Her expression less than friendly.

She sighed, "I understand, not knowing something irks you, because I happen to be like that too, however, I was brought up in the wizarding world. As biased and prejudiced it sounds, I have had more time interacting with it, therefore, I might know a tad bit more than you do. I repeat again, I will not usurp you, I have no intentions to. "She said, her tone softer towards the end. Combined with her musical voice, it was so soothing and so utterly believable, that Riddle found himself struggling to maintain his hostile demeanor.

He just nodded sharply.

"Good night, Mr. Riddle." She said in that same soft voice, and gave him such look of sadness that utterly confused him. And moreover, what confused him was that the sadness was directed at him.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

Quidditch Practices kept up. She did well in classes. She did talk to Riddle, a little but otherwise her social circle was wide. She kept up her interactions with Charles Potter, on behalf on her aunt. Dorea and he, both knew her purpose. She was tasked with validating their relationship, but Dorea was no longer worried since she knew Cordelia's take on it.

She spend her time with the team, practicing or just hanging out. She was close to Abraxas. She helped Orion out in Potions. She played games with Alphard and Anastius. She discussed quidditch plays with Filch and engaged in academic symposiums with Burke.

She even sat once or twice on the Gryffindor table with Sebastian and his cousin Brendon, who seemed to have a little crush on her.

She did discuss things with the court and Riddle about the state of History of Magic and they did some work, but still the contact was minimal between her and Riddle.

* * *

 **Riddle's POV**

Riddle was annoyed. The nerve of that girl, to play games with him. She was working and talking with people, even him, but it was just work related now. Lost was the banter, or the witty jabs. It was becoming a pattern. Each time he expressed doubt in her, she decreased her interactions with him. She was still friendly, kind, nice, courteous and polite but something, her warmth was missing. And Tom was seething that he missed it. The easy concern in her eyes, the genuine warmth that he was recipient of a few times. What further irritated him was her expressing and giving that warmth away to others.

And he was getting annoyed with the recipients of the warmth, Alphard and Abraxas especially.

He could still excuse Abraxas. He was useful, loyal and intelligent but he could not see one redeeming quality in Alphard. He was too loud and brash to be in Slytherin and he constantly got on Riddle's nerves.

Riddle's arm was just twitching to hex the hell out of him. If it were not for his mountainous self-control, he would have already given in to the temptation. However, that did not mean he was not thinking of a long term solution to the annoyance or he constantly did not fight a battle to just curse the hell out of the youngest black in Hogwarts.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

The fourth week at Hogwarts was almost on an end. Cordelia had adjusted to this new place fairly well. She liked the Professors of this time better though, they were intellectually more stimulating. The classes were also of higher standard. She had a nice group of friends and well, her family.

She had not been sure of being a part of the Blacks. She had expected as much but they were a kind and loving family beyond the public exterior and the naive blood purism and even that was not so extreme. Even the Slytherins were normal people here.

Yes, there was a war out there and people were tense. But it had yet to touch Britain so a sense of security covered the castle. People were not that worried. It had not reached Asia or France or Britain though Grindelwald was killing people left and right in other parts. Cordelia thought about doing something for the same, but she was playing a dangerous game and revealing herself or exposing herself to such danger was not an option. Her body was younger and yet to go through the majority. She was powerful and had the expanse of great knowledge at her hand, but she was not at her best yet. Grindelwald will have to wait. She had not time traveled for him. She had come to seek the other budding Dark Lord in Hogwarts. She liked Tom Riddle, she just wished he was not so suspicious. But well, you could not have everything.

She was just musing over him and the discussion and plotting on the post of History of Magic, as she absent mindedly entered the common room. She was lost in her thoughts, when she saw Lucretia and Dorea's worried voices shook her out of her reverie.

"Oh, thank goodness, you are here Cordelia." Dorea's entire visage was exuding anxiety.

"Why, what is wrong, cousin?" Cordelia's entire demeanor changed. Her voice was sharp.

"Anastius and Alphard were fooling around as usual. They said something. I think they might have insinuated something that did not settle well with the Heir Slytherin. He took offense. He cursed Zabini on the spot and he was about to curse Alphard but something stopped him. Zabini is not faring well, He is ..."Dorea trailed off.

"Where is Alphard?" Cordelia's voice was sharp.

"That's it. He would not listen, at all. We tried to stop him. Riddle stormed off and said that nobody was to disturb him. Alphard went after him to apologize to get Zabini a respite. But Heir Slytherin, he looked murderous, Cordelia. I am not sure if he wished to be found…"Lucretia's anxious voice filled in the rest of information.

"Listen to me, I will make sure he returns here, Alphard, that is. Ground him. He or Zabini are not to leave the common room. Request one of the Quidditch team members to request food from an elf. This does not leave the common room, or preferably the team and the Blacks. If people were there in common room, try and ask them to keep it quiet,"

"There was no one, just us, the two idiots and Riddle. And you are the first one to return." Lucretia said hurriedly.

"Good. Take care of it, I will find Alphard." Cordelia said.

"Corrie. Riddle was using parseltongue in his curses." Dorea's eyes were fearful.

"I assure you Dorea, my family's life is more important than a secret. I will bring back our brother." Cordelia said softly and left. Her eyes conveying more unsaid things to Dorea, she would not let Riddle harm her brother merely because she was being gracious to Tom.

* * *

 ***NOTE: The idea of the board game and one question (hippogriffs) comes from Lydia-kitten's Wand Cores. I am afraid I don't remember the Chapter number. I will look at it and update this. But go on and read it, it is a fantastic fic, if unupdated for a long time.**

 **AND BREATHE, this is my second cliffie, I know. Rest easy and wait for Saturday. The next update will be a chapter and not an interlude.**

 **To the guest reviewers**

 **anon: Here is the next update. I will update every Saturday in case people missed that in my previous chapters. I cannot update earlier than that because I lead a hectic life. Period. And the biggest reason is that I don't wish to take a prolonged hiatus in case things get even more hectic. But thanks for the review. :) I am glad that you are liking it and that the tempo of the story makes you want to read more of it.**

 **Seirei: Thanks for the review. I did enjoy the trip. :). Also, there are no interludes scheduled for the next update so it is going to be more Tom and Cordelia. I think her other relationships in the AU are just as important and so is her past life in 2004 because they affect things in the AU.**

 **Unnamed Guest: Thanks for the review. Reviews like this make my day. :D**

 **And all of you, my readers, thanks for your love and support.**


	8. Chapter 5: The Art of Parsel

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan.

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) This is a gender bender. Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing

* * *

.

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue** ** _"_**

* * *

 **Chapter 5: The Art of Parsel**

 **Previously…**

 _"Corrie. Riddle was using parseltongue in his curses." Dorea's eyes were fearful._

 _"I assure you Dorea, my family's life is more important than a secret. I will bring back our brother." Cordelia said softly and left. Her eyes conveying more unsaid things to Dorea, she would not let Riddle harm her brother merely because she was being gracious to Tom._

* * *

As soon as she was out of common room, Cordelia reached out with her magic and quickly found Riddle's trail. She ended the spell and moved forward.

It was a dark corridor, an obscure one. Students seldom entered it. It was just on the side of library, it was almost like Leaky Cauldron, and the sight of passersby almost always missed it. She had been able to see it and Abraxas had been able to see it when she pointed it out, but it was as if only a few among the magicals could even see it.

No sound escaped it as well.

But she still entered it stealthily, using a disillusionment and silencing charm.

Alphard was on the ground, his face had blood on it, and there were snakes coiled around his body holding him in place, and Riddle was hissing to them. There was no pleasure on his face, only anger. He spoke in English, with a little sibilant, "Would you like if it takes a little bite, Alphard?"

Cordelia's expressions became furious, she send a disarming spell at Riddle, canceled the spells on herself and hissed furiously to the serpents, who quickly left Alphard. Riddle was looking at her in astonishment.

She threw a look at Alphard, there was no pity in her eyes, only anger. She threw successive healing spells at him, and said, "Leave, go to common room and do not talk." Her voice was succinct.

Alphard looked from Riddle to her.

"This is a conversation between two intelligent people, Alphard. There is no place for you, you have done your bit, and you would just hamper things. Go and listen to Dorea and Lucretia or I will be very cross." Cordelia gritted her teeth. She quickly deflected a spell that Riddle threw at her, "I am not here to hurt you Mr. Riddle, I do not know what my cousin did, I am sure I would not approve of his actions, but I cannot let you hurt him."

Alphard scurried off in between the spell fire.

Cordelia was just deflecting the curses. "Would you just listen to me?" She said, her tone annoyed.

She could not see Riddle much, it was too dark, but in the deflection of spells, she could see the look of utter betrayal on his face.

She rolled her eyes, but she did not attack, only defended.

One of the spells bounced off the shield she raised and was about to hit Riddle, when she yelled, "Look out."

Riddle jumped but the bombarda hit the wall and some rubble started to fall on Riddle.

Riddle's eyes had widened, but it never fell of him, Cordelia used a shield on him and the rubble fell sideways.

"I did not think you hated me so much that you wanted to kill me." She said blandly to Riddle, who stood looking at her, surprised.

He did not say anything.

"As the daughter of House of Black, I am honor bound to protect my own. If you have grievances, you should talk to the heir or the head, and things will be resolved. I will personally see to it that Alphard is punished in proportion to his transgression, please lower your wand." She said formally.

Riddle was raising his wand. Cordelia was muttering, but no noise came.

He cursed, she deflected it silently. But she kept moving her lips. A purple swirl emanated from her wand and dissipated in itself and before Riddle knew, the snakes he had conjured to tie Alphard up, were coiling around him. No amount of hissing stopped them.

"You forgot about the snakes, didn't you?" She mused, tilting her head.

Then she spoke in parseltongue, " **The tongue of serpents will not help you, they are now tied to my magic, through the art of parsel**."

She plucked his wand from the ground, took hers and put both of them aside.

Riddle was glaring at her, as if he did not trust himself to speak.

"Do not attempt wandless magic. The snakes will only sap and absorb it." She said nonchalantly, "Now tell me what did Alphard do, I am unarmed and I swear on my magic that I will not harm you in any possible way except if I have to defend myself. Even then I will not use any spell to attack you, I will only deflect or shield. So mote it be." Magic swirled around her.

Riddle did not speak.

"Alright then," She said wryly, " **Leave him** " She hissed to the serpents.

She stepped away from him and the wands and raised her arms over her head. "I would request you to start cursing me only after you have heard the entire story. But I leave it at your discretion."

The snakes had uncoiled around Riddle. He got up, picked his wand and banished the snakes quickly. He looked at her expectantly.

She did not lower her hands, "First of all, I am not a descendant of Slytherin. I come from the line of Blacks and Malfoys. The Malfoy is a recent noble line, came to being in 1500s. The Black is older, and has magical roots which are now almost lost. The history that is. I was born on Beltane, A magical day. Remember my intimate knowledge of Veelas, well they blessed me on my birthday and predicted that I will be very powerful someday, I meet with the matriarch every couple of years. I was about nine months old when I accidentally apparated myself into the forests beyond the Black Manor. My mother said that I had been keenly staring at something and then I just popped off to somewhere. It was a full moon and there was a werewolf around. My magic was extremely powerful and chaotic, so no tracking charms put on babies ever lasted on me...they had to search manually. But they found me quickly, they followed the howls of the werewolf and they found him steps near me too. He didn't attack me though, I was safe, and I had a blood rune on the top of my head, not my blood. The family consulted quite a bit outside...I was perfectly healthy, in fact more stable, more serene…They searched high and low for that symbol. There was a half-Indian, half Portuguese in France who had come in 1700s, and he had drawn that symbol...it was recorded with the Veela Clan we talked about the day of the game. He had said that the symbol represented a snake, a cobra. Its Portuguese for snake. Veela elders said that the rune was a blessing, a gift, for saving a life. They could read the ambient magic and intent behind it. It took us a while but we found out, it is the mark of Nagas, an ancient clan that lived in the continents...they supposedly died at the turn of epoch or the millennium. So we concluded that it was a Naga, a proof came. A scroll, made of cloth, written in fruit ink, it thanked my parents for birthing me, and said that the rune was not given with mal-intent. Since I saved his life, he gifted me with the tongue of serpents, a skill rooted in his clan. He said it wouldn't show itself unless my core started to increase in size but there would be signs. The language of the letter was crude at best, it sounded like broken English. Snakes always liked me and I could understand them crudely; I also understood what they wanted almost instinctively. I was about 9 when I heard my first broken conversation. My family is old and loaded. They did their best to provide me with texts on the gift. I found references, here and there but original parseltongue texts are guarded and rare and nobody parts with them readily even if you manage to find somebody who has one. I scoured our vaults: Blacks, Longbottoms, and Malfoys, the ones who trusted me implicitly and were in on the secret that I would one day wield Salazar's tongue and I found nothing. It was at Lucretia's coming of age this summer that the family totem for Blacks, it is a snake, spoke to me and I understood. The gift became active. I wanted to read that letter. My mother had preserved it for me. There was no name, nothing, broken English, and small information that I already said. I got frustrated actually and hissed reveal in Parseltongue and the entire message disappeared to be replaced by one line, Intent will matter and that whatever magic I do will be called art of parsel. It also warned me not to trust all snakes, to care for them and respect them, but not trust them, that they could be easily bound to another parselmouth's will. I attempted it with snakes near the manor. With trial and error, I got a hang of is the only time I tested it on real snakes after coming to school..." Cordelia said, her arms still in air.

She took a breath." I did not come to Hogwarts because of Salazar, my mind was made even before the Lucretia's ceremony. But I became more eager when the gift showed itself. France does not have a history of anyone wielding the tongue, at least nothing that I found. None of my cousins ever betrayed your word, never told me about you. I was very cross with them when I found out in my first week here but then Abe told me they were oath bound. You were already wary of me, I thought knowing that I spoke parseltongue will only unsettle you further. The approach seemed best since I had no plans of using parseltongue overtly, especially with Grindelwald targeting old blood to come to his aid. I did not even buy a snake for that very reason despite the fact that is supposedly helps in channeling and harnessing the skill. Though I do practice speaking it on my own. Parseltongue has great healing potential, I have been studying the magic released from it in the privacy of my chambers. I only used it because I needed to save Alphard from his own stupidity. I am not defending his actions, he probably deserved it but he is family, I am honor bound to protect him. I made sure that he will remain silent about this. "She said solemnly.

"You can start the curses now." She added as an afterthought.

"Your cousins were under family oaths." He asked quietly.

"Yes, though they would not have betrayed me otherwise. At least I hope they wouldn't. I don't trust Walburga though." She said lightly.

"You can lower your hands, Ms. Black. I still have questions though." He said succinctly, "You have time and time again, gave up family secrets, secrets your cousins have kept, even though you are not oath bound, and yet you have kept secrets. Secrets that might have mattered to me. I must say I do not understand your motives."

She lowered her hands. "Some of it is for self-preservation. I am powerful, Mr. Riddle but I am a woman, though people appreciate my power, they also dismiss it at times because of my gender. People seek to use it, I would rather that they do not. I recognize you as powerful and you are perhaps not as bigoted as the rest and also share a similar viewpoint as mine about the current world, but how do I know how to trust you? But as I said, I do not expect the worst from the world, and something, most likely my magic tells me that you are reliable. Also, I have never met somebody who matches me in my prowess, all of the factors together make me want to be an ally with you but you think of me as hostile. I daresay, I think of you as a friend, you are probably the only person who can understand and keep up with me. I am a loner in a big bad world of men. It does not help in the least with my situation. I want you to trust me, I have been trying to earn it, but understand that I have other loyalties and oaths too. I cannot reveal everything, and I could not come to you and tell you everything that I know. I know too much, which is why I did my best to honestly answer or deflect questions that you had. I had clues that you were seeking the true history of Slytherin, I only know a little, and most of it is fable, it also put me and my family in jeopardy because of my status as a parselmouth...How do I disclose it to you when you never asked me for it? You asked me about Ravenclaw and hinted on Slytherin How was I supposed to pick up the cue? And even if you did ask me indirectly perhaps, first, I did not understand your intention to know Slytherin's legacy and two, you never trust my word? I tried with the family magic, you did not seem pleased. I am still an antagonist in your eyes. That's all I can say to explain myself."

"What about parselmagic?" He hissed.

" **Saying incantations in parseltongue with the intent to imbibe the words with magic results in parselmagic**." She hissed back in parseltongue.

Riddle regarded her with a tilt of his head.

"What did Alphard and Zabini say?" She asked softly.

He did not speak immediately, "They were imitating me poorly, along with jabbing Renatus. I understand their hostility towards Lestrange, he is less than Slytherin. However, I do not appreciate their candidness in approaching me like I was a lackey. It was getting annoyed. I warned them to stop twice, they did not. My anger rose and I reacted. "He said without a pause.

"You did not attack Alphard initially." She said lightly. "I did not think you valued him such."

"I don't." he said immediately. Something flashed in his eyes when he looked at her.

"So, you are looking for the lineage of Slytherin and your past and parents." She lightly said, without pressing it further.

Riddle nodded.

"The last recorded Slytherin that is the paternal name died about 700 years ago. There was a daughter who married into Gaunts. However, that line too fell out of favor about 300 years ago. I am not even sure of whether they survive or not, but they have not attended Wizangomot or Hogwarts since then. I vaguely remember a reference to them but my memory is hazy. However, there can be other lines that you can be traced back to, minor lines of Slytherin that Gaunts may have silenced to monopolize the money. The Olde family politics is dirty and the history is maligned with bloodshed. There is one concrete bit that I know, Slytherin Manor was locked out to descendants. When, I am not sure but no Gaunt was ever given access to it by the magic of the line. So the vaults and the properties of Slytherin , if they are not in ruins should be available to you, once you claim the lordship, should you qualify the criterion Slytherin has in place for heirs ."She told him. "Some of these facts can be corroborated with public records but others is my family lore. I would show you the journals but they can be only read by someone with Black blood." Tom took in the information slowly. He spoke only awhile later.

"That is more than I knew. I appreciate it Ms. Black." He looked sincere.

"Call me Cordelia." She murmured.

"Cordelia, it is." He agreed. He hesitated but eventually said, "If you wish, you can call me Tom."

"You do not like your first name." She remarked.

"I do not," He said, surprised that she knew that.

"And yet you give me leave to use it even when your inner circle does not use it." She tilted her head in a manner eerily similar to his own.

"They never proved half as worthy as you." He gave in.

She chuckled lightly and gave him a radiant smile.

"How is family magic suiting you?" She lightly asked.

He raised a brow, "You had the book because you wanted to know more about the black totem, it spoke to you."

"Partially. I was more interested in application of family magic though." She admitted.

He handed her wand back.

"It is getting late. You should retire to bed." He murmured.

She nodded but she did not forget that he sidestepped her question but today was not a day to push him.

They walked back to common room together.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

"Dorea is upstairs with Alphard?" Cordelia asked Orion. She saw Tom disappearing behind the alcove for Men's dorm. They had agreed that she will deal with the two third years, as Tom's temper was not in the best position and he disliked groveling minions.

After getting a nod from Orion, she followed soon after Tom and turned out that Lucretia, Dorea and Alphard were sitting by Zabini. There was a silencing spell on the door.

She opened the door and entered. She saw Dorea and Lucretia look immensely relieved. Alphard looked a bit shocked that she was completely unhurt. Zabini was moaning in pain.

She went up to Zabini and said the counter-curse for the spell Riddle had said. His nose was bleeding, she healed it in a jiffy.

She turned to Alphard, healed him completely.

"I shall leave a scar as a reminder of the tomfoolery you both did today." She said succinctly.

"We…" Zabini began.

"Spare me the explanation. Listen to what I wish to way and then you can proceed to tell me what was going in that head of yours." She dismissed his words with a wave of hand.

"You are unhurt." Alphard looked astonished.

"Not because of you Cousin." Cordelia said sharply, Alphard squirmed under her steely glare.

"I have an understanding with the Heir of Slytherin. He enlightened me about your less than stellar mimicry of him while you were trying to discredit Lestrange." She paused.

"We were just making a joke."Zabini said softly.

"True. I am glad you did not use the word harmless with the joke. Wit is a priced quality. You went on to ridicule a person who does not appreciate your candidness. A person whom you both refer as your lord. First transgression, somewhat understood. He told you to stop it, twice! And you went on. Not just stupid but inconsiderate. I would be highly unhappy with both of you if you tried to ridicule someone who does not deserve it, even when they are a stranger. You went on to insult your lord. Do I need to elaborate on how irate that makes me?" She spelled out.

"We are sorry, we did not mean to." Zabini said mournfully. Alphard looked chastised but not sorry, "Did he not punish us for it Cousin, isn't that enough? I would not have you so disappointed in me?"

"True, he punished you. But did it make you understand why he punished you? No, because you are too busy being angry with him. "Cordelia quelled him with a look.

"I expect you both to deliver a written apology to him by breakfast tomorrow. I already apologized on behalf of the House of Black, I did not think it was my place to apologize on your behalf Zabini. Not a word about this to anybody outside this room, I would not have my cousin and his best friend to be the laughing stock of the house, in how utterly un-Slytherin, inconsiderate and uncultured they both are at times. I understand the need of laughter and jokes, without them life will be dull, but it does not suit any human to enjoy those at the expense of anybody else, much less the sons of ancient and noble houses."

"It is true Alphard. I am very sure no one in our House taught you that making fun of somebody in poor sport is something to indulge in. I agree with Cordelia, while we do not need to be uptight like Burga prescribes, we do need to think before we act. Jokes apart, you should have stopped immediately if someone asked you to stop it. I doubt Heir Riddle deserved the jabbing you did. In trying to ridicule Lestrange, you estranged your Lord and poked fun at him, continued to do so when he asked you to stop. That is not a trait of cultured person." Dorea admonished her little brother. Cordelia was suddenly very glad to have had the conversation with Dorea. She perhaps would not have had this kind of support otherwise.

"Not to even point out the fact that it is sheer stupidity to antagonize a person who is far more powerful and magically adept than you." Cordelia said in a clipped tone.

Lucretia let out a little laugh. Cordelia loosened her face a bit and allowed a smile at Lucretia's amusement, but then seriously added, "The point here is not to belittle you two but to make you understand that what you did was not just stupid but also unfair on so many levels. We are cunning and ambitious, yes, but to belittle somebody just out of spite for another person is not something that Slytherin as a House represents, nor does the house of Black and nor does the house of Zabini. I hope you got that."

Alphard quickly nodded. Anastius looked somber and nodded too.

"Very well. I believe I fixed all of you. In case, there is anything bothering you from the remnants of your injuries, feel free to seek me. I will do my best to heal you. In case, I am unable to resolve it, I will come up with a suitable excuse for you to go to Madam Underhill with magical injuries and a cursed injuries. He did not harm you much. His point was to scare you." Cordelia nodded.

She pulled out three vials from her robe pocket, tossed one to Alphard and placed the other two on the bedside table of Anastius.

"The common potion is a pain reliever with a mild sleep motion and the second one for you Anastius is a blood replenishing one. I am fairly confident in my healing abilities but if you have doubts, express them. I cannot emphasize enough that you should be comfortable. Sleep well and no more shenanigans. Not even in the Quidditch field tomorrow. If possible, try and sit it out. We need to win and we need our beaters in the shape." She instructed.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

The truth was that Tom had refrained from cursing Alphard initially because Cordelia's face had flashed in front of his eyes and he hesitated and just could not do it. He could imagine her disappointed expression as she lectured him about losing his cool. But he lost it, when Alphard came in the library, as he taunted him about how Cordelia was better than him.

Cordelia _was_ so utterly good-hearted; and kind; and lovely; and nice. She was probably the first person ever that Riddle had ever taken a liking too and he could not think, he did not want to imagine what Alphard was pointing out that Cordelia was not going to be happy with Tom.

He did not like it when Cordelia was unhappy with him. He liked that smile of hers. She seemed genuine, in all the utter falsehoods muggle and Wizarding world had fed him. There was a little something that told him that he could trust her. He did trust her. He had to force himself to be wary around her, to not drift himself off in a human relation and emotion just for the sake of one person.

He had been so angry when he saw her speak parseltongue. But her explanations made sense and she gave up her wand to be able to speak to him. That showed some trust. Tom would have never given up his wand like that.

But the best or the worst of all, she seemed genuinely concerned about him. If he read her correctly, she did not value his heir status or his power, sure those things made her respect him more. But she valued him because he existed. She cared. And even though she insinuated that she his power made her choose to be friends with him, he had noticed a reluctance as if she did not like how power hungry she sounded. No, she appreciated his power but that was not the sole reason she was nice to him.

The only reason he could pinpoint was lack of any reason.

He sat on his head, contemplating the day when there was a light knock on the door. He hoped it was not the two clowns. Cordelia had promised that she will make sure he does not have to see them for the night.

"Enter." He said after composing himself.

The door opened gently He remembered the last time the door opened like that. It was Cordelia.

Her face was a bit hesitant. "Forgive me for the intrusion" She paused, then added a bit uncertainly, "Tom. I just remembered."

With that she approached him and removed a tuft of his hair from over his forehead. He was a bit surprised by her abrupt closeness.

That is when he realized the small yet sharp pain there. He was injured.

"I did not realize earlier, but as I was healing the two, I remembered and I thought I would just check. I daresay that even though I was sure that you could heal this yourself, I thought that you probably forgot about it." She murmured slowly, her soft fingers lightly examining the wound.

"I did forget about it." He admitted.

She smiled lightly "It is not that deep, but it will give you grief if it turns septic. May I?"

He nodded. Truthfully, he was not in a state to say something else. She was standing close and he could smell her light fragrance and he was overwhelmed that she remembered such a tiny detail and came up to check on him.

He had never had anyone do this for him before.

And then he saw her eyes brighten with excitement, "You want to see parselmagic."

"You have been trying healing with it." He softly asked.

"As far as I have distinguished, there are three types of parselmagic, one where you say the spell in parseltongue. The other two are more intent and word based. One is Healing and the other is protection. The latter usually need a focus for magic, other than wand. I have not been able to find concrete sources, but whatever I have read suggests that a magical snake would be very apt for it. I tried some healing without the focus, small Quidditch injuries. Worked fine. I don't want you to be a test subject though. Agree only if you are comfortable." She slowly informed, then looked at him sharply towards the end. It seemed so serene to him. Her fingers still held his forehead gently.

He could not help but let out a chuckle at her tone. "I trust you Cordelia, and I will be delighted to see parselmagic."

She took out her wand and pointed towards the wound, " **Gash, clean. Cut, Bind**." She hissed.

It stung a little and then his pain vanished.

"Not bad." She mumbled, running her soft fingers over his new skin with a feather like touch.

She then calmly took a step back with a smile and rummaged in her robe pocket before taking out a small potion bottle, "A mild sleep potion laced with calming draught. You might want to take that to break the trail of your thoughts." She gently said and handed it over to him.

Riddle took it with bemusement, "You carry around potions?"

"It is a good policy, Hogwarts definitely invites injuries. I am thinking of coming up a way to increase the portability of them. It is a hassle to carry too many bottles. Shrinking charms don't work ideally. They decrease…"

"The atmospheric pressure." Riddle nodded, completing her thought.

"Yes." She perused her lips. Her eyes flew around the room, as if she was taking in the content for the first time.

"It must be hard living in the muggle world with no adult that is responsible for you. I mean the war is so intense. I hear that even the bourgeoisie is having trouble leading lives normally." She commented under her breath. She had perhaps accidentally spoken to herself aloud.

"You know a lot about muggle world." Tom commented.

"They outnumber us. They have their powers, technology. It is best not to get caught unawares. But they are also people, and besides magic, they are similar to wizards, in honor, in defeat, in greed, in politics and cruelty. They also feel grief, fall in love, and make mistakes. A bridge between the worlds in nothing less than the idea of Utopia. People are stupid if they buy into it. But completely cutting ourselves is egoistic and I believe that wizards may pay for their ignorance." She intoned.

"Look at me with my foreboding thoughts." She shook herself out of her reverie, "I read muggle newspapers from France and Britain. It keeps me informed." She shrugged.

"And you are not wrong, Muggle places are bad right now, Specially London. It is the capital, it is insane. It has been for so long." Riddle murmured, an undertone of anger in his own voice.

"Well, magical would be in a similar state if Grindelwald keeps up his tirade. But rest assured, we should work on a few things, to get you emancipated, to get you your lordship and inheritance, and access to the vaults and Slytherin properties if any survive. Anything to prevent an incursion in muggle world" Cordelia said in a very business-like tone.

"Emancipation." Riddle looked at her as she had grown another head. "I had considered and rejected it."

"Nonsense. You need a written consent from two of Professors. Slughorn and Merrythought would do nicely. One endorsement from a Noble and Ancient House. We can keep Uncle Hyperion as a contingency. But we might not need to. Both clauses are waived if one of the Most ancient and Noble houses is concerned. If we can get your inheritance then we will not need to involve anybody." She perused her lips.

"I won't need an emancipation when I am 17." He looked at her pointedly.

"17?" she looked at him incredulously, "We will have it by Christmas. Since you likely have no near blood relatives staking a claim, the inheritance would come easily. The war is getting ugly. You are not going back to London, unless you are under some strong wards."

"And how do you suppose to do that, Cordelia? I refuse to get any adult involved." Tom's voice was sharp.

"Goblins will jump at the idea of having one of the old and loaded vaults reopened. We just need a blood inheritance test. We will have to wait for Christmas Holidays for that." She mused.

"That is a very ambitious plan." Riddle commented, he did not look convinced.

"Well, we _are_ in the House of Ambition." A smile tugged at her lips. "But, lets save the planning and explanation for a bit. You need rest. Have a good night, Tom."

* * *

Alright, here is the end of one more chapter. Next up will be an interlude, which I will have to write again.

One tip: If you are getting your system formatted, triple check that you have the backup of all the files. I lost 2 interludes and a couple of chapters in it. L :p

But fret not, I have a backup of the chapters, just unedited and very basic. I will need to correct them all over again. As for the interlude, I may write a better one, I guess.

The idea of parselmagic comes from various stories. I do not remember all of them, but it would be remiss to miss To Shape and Change in my credits. Even though the idea is very different and morphed, that story did provide me with a base.

Also, I request all you. Please review. Not because I want numbers, but it is just nice to listen to people's thoughts on the chapters. I await them eagerly. And no, I am not going to hold off chapters as ransom. That is just unethical in my opinion. But it would be nice if you could leave reviews.

To those who do review, thanks a ton again.

To all those who followed and favorited, thank you for taking out the time.

To people who are just reading, thanks.


	9. Interlude 3: Chandelier

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan.

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) This is a gender bender. Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing

* * *

.

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue** ** _"_**

* * *

 **Interlude 3: Chandelier**

 **Cordelia's POV**

Cordelia was recalling her skirmish with Riddle that happened a few hours ago as she moved another stack of books in the room of hidden things. She was mindlessly going through the stack when her thoughts strayed again. She shook herself out of reverie and cast a tempus. It was nearing 4 in the morning. She had not slept a wink tonight, the same as so many previous nights.

She was utilizing the fact that Room of Requirement and the things hidden in it were not annihilated in this dimension and time. Years and years of stuff, books, ingredients, journals, tomes just lying there. She had not realized their worth in her sixth year as Juniper and then it had been too late, too late to save the world. If she had wanted to, she could have easily sneaked in Hogwarts after the Battle. She had spent a lot of time here, restoring it, but her thoughts had not even wandered to anything. She had been dead, her soul had died after the battle. And after, she found a purpose again, she could have sneaked in and she did but there was no point. The Room of Requirement was intact. It functioned. That was not the problem, but when she had thought of the room where everything was hidden, she had just found ashes. The cursed fire had failed to break the enchantment of room but it had destroyed everything that the students and inhabitants of the castle had stored in it since time immemorial. That had made June sad.

But in this world, this was intact and Cordelia was not losing any time to sort through the history. She was hoping to find stuff on parseltongue. She had books and journals of Slytherin and stuff she and Siddharth had found from her time, but she constantly wondered if Slytherin's heirs had discovered more. There were other books, lost spells and potions etc that she could find and had already found in the past few days.

She had found one Gaunt journal, one journal of Ravenclaw, one book of grotesque potions. She suspected it to be written by a descendant of Herpo the Foul or himself. She had locked that book in a sealed magical room in her trunk. It was best if Tom never came near anything mildly related to that man.

She sighed, looking at the time. She should get going. It was time for her morning regime. She placed the stack of books in her 'checked and verified zone', covered herself in the Potter Invisibility cloak and begun to walk back to dungeons.

As she entered the common room, she saw Albert Carrow sprawled on one of the couches, sloshed and drooling. She wrinkled her nose. She had enjoyed Firewhiskey as Juniper but this level of drunkenness was just not done. She had been seeing the same scene for a few days now. At first, she had been happy to see the proof of his weakness. Albert Carrow had been drunkard and in the end had died by choking on his own vomit. But it did not mean that she liked seeing him that way every day. Her thought though had trailed back to her past as June.

She, Hermione and Draco had sat down and researched every single magical person alive from 1920s to her time. She had dirt on everyone, their weaknesses, and their ticking points. She knew them all. They had scavenged newspapers, public records, followed rumor mills, sat down with Narcissa, Molly and Arthur to get to know as much as they did of everyone. Arthur and Molly had not known about her plans to travel back in time and Narcissa had hoped that she wouldn't, if not for the sake of Draco, then for the sake of Siddharth. She had failed all of them, Molly and Arthur by betraying them and Narcissa by breaking her hopes. Narcissa had looked resigned by the end of it, but more resolved than Draco had been. She wondered how they were doing right now, all of them.

She retired in her room, removed her cloak and climbed down in her second trunk to the modern gymnasium. She changed into tights and a tank top and begun stretching. After about two hours of grueling exercise, she heaved a large breath, went to the bench at the side, corked up the water bottle and took a long sip. Her thoughts for the past two hours had not been on the people she knew since she entered the magical world. Her thoughts were on the person whom she had found after leaving the British Wizarding World. Siddharth. Mainly because, she had done 'this' with him. Exercising, martial arts, modern rather mundane muggle stuff. He had traveled with her everywhere, researching as others went on in their lives in Britain and he had insisted that she learned weaponry apart from her magic.

" _You are magically powerful, that is good. But not all enemies can be defeated by magic, some will need brain, some will need brawn, some will just need magic. We need to make you an ace in all three._ " His words came back to her.

It was credit to him that Juniper learned sword-fighting, it was credits to him that she trained with the bows and arrows. It was credit to him that she learned to convert her body, not just her magic into a physical barrage of weapons.

Her grip tightened on the glass. She missed him, but she pulled herself back into composure, a second later and glanced at the modern paraphernalia in the gym, latest in 2004. Draco had not heard anything and had proceeded to buy everything and furnish the gym for her. He had not even taken money. Frankly, she thought she had offended him when she had asked the amount she owed him.

She sighed and moved to the kitchen, meandering with the utensils and the electrical gadgets. It had not been Hermione but Luna who had discovered how to make electricity work around magic. Ron and George had helped. In fact, Weasley Wizarding wheezes was all set to expand from pranks into the manufacturer of magictrix goods, as they were calling it. There was the law about Muggle artifacts and Draco and she had tirelessly lobbied a way around it with the help of Arthur Weasley. In fact, the verdict would have been announced three weeks after the day she did the ritual to travel back in time. She hoped they won. She stopped the blender, poured out her cold coffee and took a sip. Her mind wandered back to Siddharth. Apart from her and Hermione, it had been him who knew his way around kitchen and all the electrical aids. George had picked up fast, so had Ron even though he sometimes got the names wrong, but nothing beat Sid's expertise.

She took another sip, ruminating on the law and the conversation around it. All the electrical devices in her trunk were illegal by law in 2004 but her friends had convinced her to make use of them nonetheless.

" _Its hidden in layers of magic of your trunk and you are traveling back in time. They won't care._ " Ron had pointed out.

" _And you will have a failsafe even in the past. The Muggle Artefacts law had not come up until 60s.._ " Hermione had put in helpfully.

" _Yes Granger. June's biggest problem if authorities in 40s discover her electrical devices would be the devices, not the bizarre fact that she traveled back in time._ "Draco had butt in sarcastically.

George had roared out in laughter. So had Ron. Surprisingly, Hermione had defended them when June had thrown a fit about their juvenile antics. It had been one weird day.

Remembering the day, she accioed the newspapers of the current date from June's timeline and took a glance.

This world was different. It diverged. Her interference, Death's interference had changed a lot. It had made transition easier for June but it had also complicated other things. The biggest of all of them was Grindelwald. He was more vicious, and the war was bloodier.

According to June's timeline, there were still 2 years before Dumbledore gathered courage and confronted him. Two years' worth of destruction and life loss. Cordelai was not sure that she could just stand by and watch it all happen.

" _You are saying that you won't interfere with Grindelwald. It is not your focus, but I am not sure if you will be able to resist. You are a hero, June. Heroes don't sit on sidelines._ " Draco had seriously said.

" _Do whatever your instincts say. They won't let you down Anya._ " Sid had said.

She agreed with Draco. The itch to go out and battle, the itch to end it nagged her at the back of mind. People were dying and she was sitting here playing mind games with Riddle. Instincts, it all boiled down to that. Sid read her too well. She was a seasoned, hardened warrior, sitting still when the world was in danger was not one of her things.

She could prevent a lot of this. And now, it seemed like her responsibility because her interference, likely had made Grindelwald a bit crueler. She would have to plan out something.

She hit the glass on the sink base with resolve. There were twenty minutes remaining for breakfast to begin.

She had one more thing to so before she climbed back into her Slytherin room

She looked at the bars attached slightly below the ceiling with trepidation. It was not because they were so high, or further apart or that her next exercise involved her crossing 500 metres by doing gymnastics. She was sure there were more technical terms, she just had focused on the technique more than the terms. It had been easier that way.

She could do it. She had done in hundreds of time before, but today was that day of the month. No, not the bars and not her period, it was the terrain below the bars that made her swallow heavily.

It was a swamp or a marsh or a bog. She had always done this with Siddharth or Draco supervising her and rescuing her if she fell in. Today, there would be no one.

The idea that she was in this alone, not just in the task but in this world alone was hitting the front of her mind in an overwhelming torrent.

She had skipped this exercise in the previous months, updating her knowledge of this world, sorting through Cordelia's memories, but today she had no excuse, but fear and the feeling of abandonment.

Technically, it had been she who abandoned them. She had a choice. It did not make her feel better though.

She bit the inside of her mouth for a bit and then abruptly did a high jump. She had to do it, all alone if she must. She had grabbed the nearest bar. Now it was only the matter of crossing the rest of the bog doing these jumps.

She swallowed again, closed her eyes, breathed deeply and took a swing…

She was covered in sweat. She did not fall down, but it was harder doing it alone with no voice encouraging her. She rested her hands on her knees and panted a bit.

Then again abruptly bounded towards her bathroom.

She slipped out of her tights, pushing them down with the soles of her feet and pulled off her tank top in an abrupt hurry as well.

The next she saw herself in the mirror, with her top half bared, and slid into the shower, after dumping all of her clothes and underclothes in a hamper.

She switched on the CD player before she did that though.

 _Party girls don't get hurt  
Can't feel anything, when will I learn  
I push it down, push it down_

 _I'm the one "for a good time call"_  
 _Phone's blowin' up, ringin' my doorbell_  
 _I feel the love, feel the love_

 _1, 2, 3 1, 2, 3 drink_  
 _1, 2, 3 1, 2, 3 drink_  
 _1, 2, 3 1, 2, 3 drink_

 _Throw 'em back, till I lose count_

 _I'm gonna swing from the chandelier, from the chandelier_  
 _I'm gonna live like tomorrow doesn't exist_  
 _Like it doesn't exist_  
 _I'm gonna fly like a bird through the night, feel my tears as_

 _they dry_  
 _I'm gonna swing from the chandelier, from the chandelier_

She smiled. It seemed apt to the activity that she had been doing just before this. She started shaking her body to the rhythm and switched on the hot water and streams came out from the shower.

 _1, 2, 3 1, 2, 3 drink  
1, 2, 3 1, 2, 3 drink  
1, 2, 3 1, 2, 3 drink_

 _Throw 'em back till I lose count_

 _I'm gonna swing from the chandelier, from the chandelier_  
 _I'm gonna live like tomorrow doesn't exist_  
 _Like it doesn't exist_  
 _I'm gonna fly like a bird through the night, feel my tears as they dry_  
 _I'm gonna swing from the chandelier, from the chandelier_

She was brushing her long hair and removing the tangles from them in her Slytherin room when a knock came on her door.

She got up and opened the door.

"Where were you? I knocked last night as well." It was Dorea's urgent voice and face that greeted her.

She stepped aside to let Dorea in and then closed the door.

"I told you I was fine in Anastius' room. I just put a silencing spell since I wanted to sleep undisturbed." The lie rolled off her tongue easily.

She was a master liar. She had begun very early, lying to herself.

" _If you can lie to yourself, you can lie to anybody_." Sid had said, " _I do not think you will need much training in that. But the problem is your guilt. You don't feel guilty when you lie to yourself, but you do when you do to others… you see the problem there. We need to fix it_."

"Well, what happened?" Dorea asked curiously.

"We talked, I convinced him." Cordelia said shortly.

"He knows about parseltongue?"Dorea asked.

Cordelia nodded. Her mind was still stuck in 2002.

"And he did not get angry?"Dorea's voice was a mix of exasperation and urgency.

Cordelia did not trust her own temperament today. She was not be pushed or she would lash out. She was not doing well emotionally.

"He did." She said patiently, "I managed to convince him that I bore no danger to him or his position within the house."

"What did you tell him about parseltongue?"Dorea promptly asked.

"The truth." Cordelia again gave a small reply.

"The werewolf and the Naga? And he believed you?" Dorea was skeptical.

"Yes, the werewolf and the Naga, how else do you think I got the parseltongue." Cordelia was on edge, "And yes, he believed me."

"Riddle just does not believe anybody."Dorea mused, "He seems to have a soft spot for you, what with Quidditch and even before that."

"Well, we are friends, sort of. And what do you mean by 'before that'?" Cordelia asked. Her mind was still wandering, Draco's smirk, Ron's grin… She shook her head and looked expectantly at Dorea.

"Well, you remember the day after the failed mutiny." Dorea began.

"There was no mutiny." Cordelia said sharply.

"There would have been, had you not interfered. But do you remember what went down between Lucretia and Ignatius Prewett."

"How can I forget? I swear if he disrespects Lucretia one more time, I will..." Cordelia began, her tone irritated.

"Listen to me first" Dorea interrupted, " We were discussing her, I and Alphard, and Riddle presumed it was you. He looked worried and he asked after you."

'You think he is playing me?" Cordelia asked pointedly.

"No, he seemed genuine. That is what surprised me." Dorea answered honestly.

"Well, as I said, we are friends. Frankly, Riddle is not bad. I told you that." Cordelia said, still lost in her thoughts.

"Yes, you did. But how is the 'friendship' going to work out? Women do not socialize with men, unless it is courtships. I know you think you broke the barriers with Raphael, but I should point out that even he is hoping to court you." Dorea asked.

"I socialize with the quidditch team, Flint, Burke, Zabini." She again said in a similar tone.

'They treat you like a sister. So does Charlie, if you are thinking of invoking his name." Dorea argued back.

"Well, too bad. I don't think of them as brothers and I am not going to let any of them court me anytime soon. They are friends. I am going to socialize with men without being their sister and they will not the chance to court me either." Cordelia snapped, " I am not going to let an ancient dogma preaching about my character to define or decide my behavior."

Dorea was stunned.

Cordelia sighed, collecting herself, letting go of her past, if only briefly, "I know that does not sound like me. The perfect Black heiress."

"No, damn well, it does not." Dorea snapped.

"I was going to rebel eventually. The fact that I am the heiress is just another perk." Cordelia shrugged.

"Why?"Dorea had trouble comprehending it.

'Because I am tired." Cordelia said forcefully, "Tired of being underestimated, just because I am a woman. We have had this conversation Dorea. I am underestimated, so are you. I am the Black Heiress because Uncle does not have a choice. But for one moment, he does not think that I deserve my power. Men always appreciate my power, but they think that they could have made better use of it if they had it. I am constantly underestimated Dorea, and let nobody else tell you otherwise." Cordelia was losing her temper.

'Well…" Dorea began but could not find words.

"Are you honestly telling me that I am less worthy than Oree, than Affy, Or Abe or Riddle? Are you telling me you believe that you are less worthy than anyone of them? No, we are as good as them." Cordelia said impatiently, her volume had risen.

"We are not less worthy." Dorea whispered.

"No, we are not. Then why is my interest in politics novel, why do people say 'despite being a girl', why am I only good enough for being courted and bearing children. I have interests beside a household!" Cordelia's tone was sharp and loud.

Next, she closed her eyes and swallowed, "I am sorry, I should not have screamed. None of it is our fault or your fault. At least, we are not the only ones at fault. It is the system. I am going to change that, by hook or by crook and the men can watch and so can women!" She said very calmly.

"It is a lot to take in." Dorea said.

"I am not denying you that. Take all the time you need." Cordelia said.

"I don't think you are wrong though. I did not think that the last time and I don't think that right now. It is going to take a while to get used to it, to get used to the fact that I can do as much as Charlie can, or Oree can or Affy can, but I will do it. I will be with you Corrie, through it all. I will struggle and you will need to push me but I will try." Dorea completed her thoughts.

Cordelia regarded her with a look and then a light alarm blared from her wand.

"Quidditch Practice" She muttered and then shook her head.

"Go, make a name for yourself because you are the best seeker that Slytherin could have. This would be the beginning, I guess. You need to win, your hope, my hope, our hope for a better place for us in the society lies on it." Dorea said seriously.

"I will try my best." Cordelia nodded seriously and ran outside.

* * *

 **Hah, phew. I did not think that I would get this written in time. Next up will be another interlude and the one after that might also be an interlude. Depends on the length of the stuff that I write.**

 **To everyone reading this, thank you. '**

 **And share your thoughts with me.**

 **In case, people did not get this in Chapter 4, then Cordelia knew the answer to the Hippogriff question because of her 3** **rd** **year. Remember, Hermione mentioning it to Harry! Yeah, that.**

 **I had a horrible day and week and I nearly forgot to update. But I remembered before I was turning in. So here it is. Leave me good reviews.**

 **To those who reviewed and I did not reply. Sorry I will try and catch up with them this week!**

 **The lyrics of the song Chandelier do not belong to me.**

 **That's about it.**

 **Until next time.**


	10. Interlude 4: The Lover

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) This is a gender bender. Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances and nineteen years later. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue"**

* * *

 **Interlude 4: The Lover**

She and Tom were kissing. She did not think it would happen so soon, so soon. His arms were wrapped around her waist and her fingers were knotted with his hair.

It was the alcove behind the third left in the dungeons. How had they found the place again? Something potions, yeah Draco had shown it to her when they had visited Slughorn for memories of Hogwarts while Tom had been there, cooking some excuse about her wanting to know more about the man she had killed. Draco? Wait, what?

Her vision blurred, voices went high and low and she was kissing again. It wasn't Tom.

Sid?

* * *

 **Flashback**

 **Cordelia's POV**

Cordelia was exhausted by the end of the day, not because Flint was as hard a slave driver as Oliver Wood but because the memories of her past as Juniper had been on a continuous onslaught during the day.

She passed Tom a small and weak smile when she saw him in common room and received a nod in return but she did not linger and immediately went to her room for a shower and some sleep.

She needed to sleep. It had been 5 days since she had.

Exhausted, she switched on the faucet of the shower in her trunk.

She quickly wiped herself, pulled on her clothes, a silk shirt and pajamas and dropped dead on the bed of the master bedroom.

She slept in the center, desperately hoping to smell her friends. They had spent hours in here, trying to figure out her situation, trying to fix it, fix her, and fix her pain.

She did not even realize when her eyes fluttered shut and Morpheus embraced her.

She was dreaming. She was not surprised by the realization. She had always been quick to realize that after she researched enough on dreams and mind arts. The question was, would she be able to control the dream. She didn't think she would.

She was in a wilderness, she glanced at a forest pool and instead of a 14 year old Cordelia, she looked like the 24 year old Juniper. There was not much difference, except Cordelia's body had not gone through the magical maturity. Cordelia was still a child.

She looked away. It was a stark reminder of the fact that, she a 24 year old was trapped inside the body of a 14 year old.

She could have gotten her maturity right now, but she was biding her time. After the last time it had happened, how destructive her magic had been, she was not risking it without the presence of …. She had destroyed the entire west wing of the Malfoy manor.

A simple reparo after her majority had taken care of it but , no, she could not risk exposure just because she was not used to being so low on her magical strength.

The scene fleeted, blurred and she saw a huge snake sliding in the grass, the same as her patronus. The scene changed. She was falling, falling down and she woke up with a startle.

Eyes wide in panic, she panted.

* * *

 **Present**

 **Cordelia's POV**

She and Tom were kissing. She did not think it would happen so soon, so soon. . His arms were wrapped around her waist and her fingers were knotted with his hair.

It was the alcove behind the third left in the dungeons. How had they found the place again? Something potions, yeah Draco had shown it to her when they had visited Slughorn for memories of Hogwarts while Tom had been there, cooking some excuse about her wanting to know more about the man she had killed. Draco? Wait, what?

Her vision blurred, voices went high and low and she was kissing again. It wasn't Tom.

Sid? Tom?

She broke the kiss and looked and in front of her eyes, the eyes of the person she was kissing were midnight blue.

He again bent down to kiss her. This wasn't Tom, this touch was more familiar. Siddharth.

And when the guy looked up again, he did not have midnight blue eyes. It had slits, not the Voldemort red slits, a deep green colored pupil slit, as green as a dense forest, so deep green that they almost looked black. They were blacker today. His slit eyes had always went darker in color when he was aroused.

Cordelia woke up again in panic. This was the second time when she had dreamed of Siddharth in a single night. First, as that majestic snake, his animagus and then him, trying to control the transition as his body confused arousal with flight and fight response.

Dreaming about Tom, that was not a first. She had always had vivid dreams about him, about his life, recurring images of the memories she had seen of him as a boy and one and two of sexual fantasies. None had gone beyond a kiss because she always woke up.

Even when she had been 19 and fixed on traveling back in time, she had known that a part of her was in love with the boy that was before Voldemort. Not perhaps romantic, she didn't understand it clearly till date, but she identified so much with him, all she had wanted to do was travel back in time and love him until he understood what love meant.

Then her Black blood and her quotient with Salazar had complicated everything. She had complicated everything, because well, he for the longest time had been her equal. She had realized later that it was not. Tom was not her, was not even like her even though they had similar childhoods.

But this was her first about Siddharth. She had never needed a fantasy, he had been so available. She had barely slept, and when she did dream, it was all about saving Tom, or assorting her knowledge.

She had known that it would hurt like a bitch, leaving him behind, more than anyone else, leaving him behind because he had filled a hole that nobody else had.

He had no connections to British war. He was untainted, in his opinions about her. He saw her, not June Potter, the savior, the girl who lived, the chosen one…nothing. Draco for the longest time, saw her as an antagonist and even though their friendship went deeper years later, a part of her had resented him.

Ron and Hermione had not understood her obsession with Tom. She had not told them anything, not until 2001. They had been helping her long before that but they had not known for what. George, every time he looked at his face, she blamed herself for the death of Fred. Luna, she had known, even before June told her anything, but Luna was not somebody who could heal her wounds and scars. Neville himself was too scarred and June never turned to him.

Siddharth, in that case had been a novelty. A fresh breath. He had healed some part of her, even before she realized. But only parts, she had not let him see how utterly damaged she was but she knew that he had never cared.

And even though, a part of her always screamed that she was betraying Tom by being with him, she had gone along with the sway, simply because, healing emotionally felt wonderful.

She had never denied it. She loved him, but less than she loved Tom. Or at least she thought so. She closed her eyes and laid back on the bed again. But today and tonight was about Siddharth, she did not understand why, why he was just constantly there on her mind.

Her hand went down through the waistline of her pajama to her clit. She had suspected it, she was wet. Tears sprang out her eyes, Morgana, she missed him. She swiftly got up changed into her track pants and tank and a sweatshirt, performed a complicated invisibility spell on her body in parseltongue, bounded down the stairs into the common room and out in the Hogwarts ground.

It was still night, about two hours after the midnight.

There she transformed, into a Snow white wolf with her emerald orbs and still invisible, she just ran in the forest mindlessly, until she forgot.

It was towards dawn that she stopped. Quickly transforming back and canceling her invisibility spell, she trudged down a goat trail and sat underneath a humongous and old tree.

She had learned that exercising was a good substitute for arousal the hard way. She panted a bit and then waited until her breathing evened.

She looked around. She was way away from the Centaur's colony. And there were no acromantula in the forest yet, but she was also away from the cave where Aragog and Mosag had eventually made their nest.

She had found the place when she had been training with centaurs about their customs and their techniques of wielding the bow and arrow. She had stayed here less than a month but her magic had enabled her to speak with the forest.

She had heard whispers from the trees and stones and she had found this place.

The place was magically saturated. Cordelia had not tried figuring it out then, she was not going to try now. But the sheer magic of the place would let her perform magic that she could not without her majority.

She created a privacy ward for a diameter of 5 meters and laid her head back on the tree.

She murmured in an Indic language. She had asked Siddhartha what is was. He had shrugged. She took it to mean that it was difficult to understand the origin or difficult to pinpoint a single thread in the language.

It was a mix of stuff that people in his community spoke.

She continued her murmuring, shaking herself out of the thoughts and drew a huge rectangle in air and a shimmery screen appeared and next, she was pulling out a memory from her hand and the screen came forward and grabbed it from the wand and begun playing like a good old movie theatre.

This was a memory of her and Draco. Her first potion lesson with him.

 _"No, June, I said dice it, not slice it." Draco's patient drawl interrupted her as she was absent-mindedly cutting some plant root._

 _"Is there a difference?" She asked very curiously._

 _"How did you get an E in OWLS?" Draco asked rhetorically._

 _She just made a face._

It just went on mindlessly as Draco made her brew forgetfulness potion from scratch, following instructions.

She never got potions right, never, not until that day, a day before she turned 20 when Siddharth had peeked in on her potions lessons.

 _"You wand wielders. You know nothing!" He had exclaimed, grabbed her hands and proceeded to take over her lesson, much to the chagrin of Draco._

 _"Feel your core and feel the magic in the ingredient." He said._

 _"The root if diced would release a certain kind of magic? Sliced, another kind and the ingredient speaks, so listen to it. Go back to your magical instincts." He had muttered._

He had never taken over another potion lesson. And with his advice, she had finished the potions worth a mastery under 2 months under Draco's tutelage. She still had occasional doubts about her potion-making skills.

Wands. That had been another thorn according to Siddharth. Draco had been gob smacked when he and Siddharth had met first in her London Apartment.

 _"You don't use a wand!" He had looked dubious._

 _"I do not need one!" Siddharth had replied back, quite candidly._

 _"I have never heard of Indian Wizards not using wands. I have been to the Ministry and everything." Draco asked skeptically._

 _"Yes, the wizards you colonized have the need to use wands. My community, we are cut off from the rest of the world, does not." Siddharth had replied back patiently._

He had an accent, not Indian, not American, where she had met him, but the lilt of the tongue that came when you talked too much in parseltongue. It sounded dangerous, but oh, so seducing _._

 _"You look colonized to me!" Draco had drawled, inspecting Siddharth's Cargo pants and Wind sheeter and neatly styled hair._

 _"Just because I have knowledge of your modernity, does not mean I am colonized, wizard. I would stand out if I came out in my dhoti in the middle of the London, wouldn't I?" Siddharth had said, sarcasm laced in his voice, towards the end._

 _"You would still stand out, brownie!" Draco had passed the racial slur in a blink._

It was technically true, Siddharth was brown, not quite as pale as June and Draco but not as dark as Dean Thomas. He was fairer than the Patil twins but he said that was only because of the lack of sun exposure in America. But that did not mean that it was not offending and Siddharth had taken offense

. _He had picked Draco up and pinned him to the wall and said with a little sibilant, "Never call me brownie again, or you will know what a 'real' snake can do with his fangs." He had partially transformed his canines into the venomous fangs of his form with his slit eyes_.

 _It was a dig at Draco, who prided on being a snake aka Slytherin._

 _He had left Draco the next moment and reverted back to the human form. There had been a tense silence as her friends, including Ron, George, Neville, Luna, Ginny and Hermione looked torn._

 _She had been taken aback, a little._

 _But Siddharth had broken the silence and elevated the mood in seconds. He addressed her wryly, "You know you were right!"_

 _"Huh," She had just made that noise and given him a questioning look._

 _"He is a darn arsehole." Siddharth replied._

 _Ron had spouted off his tea in a shower of saliva. George well, he and Siddharth had gotten along so well after that. Hermione had looked stricken by the cussword, Luna had smiled her angelic smile. Neville had just grinned._

 _Ginny had given out a snort, at the same time as her and both of them had burst into laughter next._

 _Draco had looked unhappy._

 _"You should be glad Blaise is not here. He would have loved to witness this." She had murmured aloud to him._

 _"I can call him. Wait" Ginny had opened her floo in a blink to call her boyfriend._

 _"Ginerva." Draco had said dangerously and received a stinging hex from Ginny, "Never call me by that name." Ginny had hissed._

Of course, both, Siddharth and Draco had come a long way from their reservations around each other. Both were just too protective and possessive of her.

But her eyes fleeted back to the screen, back to the form of Siddharth.

He was six feet tall, lean and muscular. He worked out a lot. He had a thin, long face with sharp features. Aristocratic, though he denied any lineage claims, which was obviously not true, he was the clan leader. He was considerably older than all of them, about four years older than June. Normally, he had deep green eyes, about 5 shades darker than hers. And he was always clean shaven. His hair length had fluctuated over the years, from a long ponytail to a bun to short, cropped hair to slightly long wavy hair that covered his ears, the latter being the most common.

He hated British Wizarding robes. Britain was the only country that insisted on using them on a daily wear. He preferred modern muggle clothing. Easy and comfortable and of course, he was magically strong. He only ever used wandless magic. The perfect blend of modern and old. That's how she thought of him.

The memory switched.

She had learned the partial animagus transformations from him.

She glanced at her hand and pulled out claws from her fingers and made them disappear again.

She glanced at the screen.

Hermione was teaching her the undetectable extension charm. She had not even turned 19. She had cooked up some excuse about wanting to clean Grimmauld place and place the dark artefacts in a bottomless trunk and Hermione had bought it up, because June had been showing enthusiasm about living life after a long time.

She had spent the time restoring Hogwarts and appearing for trials in silence. She may as well as have been mute if it was not work related. She had refused to stay at Weasleys, instead staying at the grim Grimmauld place. The Weasleys and Hermione had tried cajoling her, prying into what the issue was, but June had been too irritated, too locked in her own thoughts to take any heed. She had ordered Kreacher to keep them away until she permitted them to intervene.

She had spent the next week being tortured by a werewolf and when she had remembered Kreacher and asked him to take her someplace safe. He had taken her to Malfoys since she had forbidden the presence of Weasleys and Hermione. And that was how she and Draco had become friends.

She shook her head, focusing again on the screen.

The wedding of Blaise and Ginny in 2003. She had been in Egypt. She had come for three days to England for the festivities after some 9 months. Sid had visited her and so had Draco. The others just wrote letters because they did not know where she was.

She had come in between, once or twice, to chat with Salazar in the Slytherin Manor and visit the graves of Voldemort and her parents. But she had met nobody and told nobody. She suspected that Salazar had ratted her out to Draco and Sid, but they had never questioned her.

Her eyes took in every face hungrily, wondered about the faux smile that her counterpart was wearing. She had smiled for real later that evening, when Sid had sung that song and dragged her for a dance, but she had soon been too morbid again.

The memory switched or rather fast forwarded to the end of the reception. The guests were leaving. Blaise and Ginny were wrapped around each other in the middle of the dance floor with a few others. And she was sitting with George, talking animatedly about a few Egyptian pests that he could use for some of his potions. Ron and Hermione had joined in. Draco had been quietly sitting behind her. Luna was humming a tune. Neville was slightly drunk and Hannah was keeping him steady.

Susan had joined them that night, which was surprising. June had never recalled that she had been there.

And then Sid had sprung out his guitar and started to sing.

That made her sad. She looked down away from the screen, lost in her thoughts.

Slowly the memory finished itself and the screen dissolved when there was no magic to feed her anymore. She just kept looking at her feet and shuffling. In between, she froze and then went on with observation of ground. When the screen ebbed away and took away the light, she said conversationally, "What brings you here?"

And Death spoke to her, "You are normally more vigilant. It took you 10 minutes to realize my presence."

"I felt you as the void was created, even before you entered this realm. I was just hoping that ignoring you would make you go away." She laid down in the roots of the tree.

"I thought you knew me better, Mistress" Death replied.

"I thought I did. Wasn't that my folly?" She asked rhetorically.

Death chuckled.

"You took a while before you reached out. It has been what, 3 months or more since I have been in this dimension." She made conversation, fixing the dark, shrouded figure with a look.

"I wanted you to settle in. How is the world suiting you?" He asked. He had a rusty voice as if he seldom used it.

"You made her too perfect!" Cordelia said calmly, but her voice betrayed her anger.

"You asked me to mold Cordelia Faye Black to resemble you. I did that. I spared her life when the werewolf attacked and I spared the life of the Naga, as you asked me. I kept her away from Tom Riddle until you could come in the world and take charge. I did what you asked." Death's voice was frosty.

"I requested, never ordered." She said succinctly, "It is not right, me being your mistress."

"You have told me that often. And isn't that the reason why none of your friends knew about me, not even Siddharth?" Death asked.

"You keep too close an eye on me!" She said pointedly.

"To protect, nothing else." He murmured back.

"If you say so.." She snorted.

"You made her too perfect. This was not what I needed, being hung on a pedestal after being the freaking savior of one world. I am not a wax doll or a statue that people can.." She said bitterly after a while.

"She balances you. You were too imperfect. She is too perfect. I just struck a balance." Death spoke.

"Imperfect? Why don't you just say damaged?" She said bitterly.

"You are not damaged!" Death spoke harshly.

She chuckled, tears falling down her face, "Kid somebody else, Death. I spent a thousand years in the void of fire to reach this world. I know a tad bit more about life than you do."

"You always knew more about life than I do, I just know that life is fickle and I need no more truths about it." Death spoke, "But I still sometimes doubt that you know life. You perhaps know life, yet you do not realize it. Why do you insist on being a machine?"

"I am afraid the burden comes with my title." She said shortly.

Death snorted, "I agree with your Indian, you lie to yourself a lot."

"It has kept me alive. It has done a whole lot of good. If you think I am going to stop lying to myself, I won't." She said stubbornly.

"As you please, Mistress." Death said submissively, "I just came to give you a missive."

She gave him a questioning look.

"Your lover searches for you!" He said softly.

'Tom.." She quickly muttered, hastily transformed and ran towards the castle without saying a goodbye to death.

* * *

 **Death's POV**

"Tom Marvolo Riddle is not your lover yet, Cordelia Faye Black. I spoke about the lover of June, or more aptly Anya. Your lover is searching for a way to cross dimensions to come to you." Death spoke softly. He knew that she could not hear him. She had long ago, swept into the other part of the forest.

He smiled a crooked smile and dissipated.

* * *

 **Aha, I thought I would never get this done. I was especially scared about how I write death, but I guess it turned out well. Next up will be another interlude, before we go back to chapters for some time. It is a crucial one. Cordelia will be making an important decision. Consider that a teaser.**

 **'And death spoke to her' is a variation of 'And death spoke to them' and is directly picked from** ** _The tale of three brothers_** **from** ** _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows._**

 **A reply to the guest reviewers: I**

 **Anonymous: I am so glad that you are liking it and that you can see deep layers within the story. Thank you, that kinda validates the writer in me.**

 **Odette Bell: Thank you. I hope you like this one too.**

 **Naru kashi: I update every Saturday Naru. Thank you for the review. It means a lot.**

 **kakashi namikaze: I honestly await Saturdays so that I can update. I love hearing from the readers. Thank you for reviewing.**

 **AND a warm welcome to all the new readers and regards to all the old ones. You make this story worth my while. :P**


	11. Interlude 5: Only time

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) This is a gender bender. Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances and nineteen years later. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue"**

* * *

 **Interlude 5: Only Time can heal the call of goodbyes.**

 **Cordelia's POV**

Cordelia was rapidly reading through the parselscript in her room. It was Sunday evening. She had spent the morning in Quidditch practice after her encounter with Death. And she was now trying to figure out why her past memories were attacking her in this manner.

She knew she was an anomaly. She had defied great many laws and downright broke a lot of them by performing the time slash dimension travel.

She set the parselscript aside and jumped on the Egyptian hieroglyphics. She had to find something about it. And she was not searching blindly. She had a clue. Since most of her memories were centered on Siddharth, she knew it was related to her… position with magic, for lack of a better term.

All of her reading spread around her bed were centered on one magical phenomena… the occurrence of a child of magic.

A secret, not because it was highly kept or regulated, merely because it had surpassed the categories of legend and myth into the forgotten.

It did not last in living memory, except with a certain few sects that the magical world had lost contact with.

June had been 20 years old when she found out about it. She had been with Siddharth, visiting his community and it had sprung up.

She remembered that she had been searching so hard for a way back to Tom. She explained that she just wanted to save that boy, that little 11 year old Tom to the Malfoys and Siddharth.

Even after receiving her majority some six months after the battle of Hogwarts, in her prolonged stay with the Malfoys, June had not gone back to Gringotts. Bill Weasley had made all her dealings and she had no need of gold when she lived with the Malfoys. She had been coached into the idea of magical majority and what it meant to be the Lady of House of Potter and Black by Narcissa and she went to rightfully claim her rings at Gringotts when she turned 19.

She had found out far more than she had expected. As she had worn the Black ring and her magical aura had expanded, another ring had flung out from the mines of Gringotts and fitted itself onto her fingers.

The ring of Slytherin, rightfully hers. The goblins had no idea how it happened. The ring was too old and its history almost forgotten. Draco had suggested conquest. She had bought it, simply because she did not want to dwell on it. The ring rightfully belonged to Tom Marvolo Riddle, it would have been his, if circumstances had gone differently. Tom had been an issue for her, still was an issue for her. She was quite touchy about the subject. She had constantly felt that something was missing. Hermione had suggested that she had perhaps grown used to the presence of the horcrux and now that it was destroyed, June was missing something, but June instinctively had known that was not it.

Goblins informed her about the Slytherin castle. She had half-listened to it, too dazed in her head, remembering the memory of a younger Dumbledore as he introduced magic to the 11 year old boy.

She did not go there for a month. And when she decided to, it was because she wanted to bury Voldemort in the manor. She had gone alone. Nobody knew and while she was strolling down the dusty but intact castle, she had come across the portrait of Salazar Slytherin. He spoke a different tongue than English and she had still communicated easily with him. It was the first time she used parseltongue after the battle. She did not know that she could do that and when she had asked Salazar, later, he had deflected the question, telling her that some Slytherin might have married in the line and the gift was just appearing but his eyes had told a different story, a story he did not want to tell. June had not pushed him.

She had come to respect the man. He was fascinating, really. She had spent countless hours talking to him. No hatred for muggles, wariness yes, but hatred, no. The Basilisk had been a gift from a friend and she was a nice, gentle creature, smarter than the larger snake. Her name was Ursula. Salazar suspected that years of confinement had not done it any good. She told him about Riddle. He had not been impressed. In fact, he had tried to convince her not to interfere with Time, not because Tom Riddle was a half-blood. Slytherin's wife apparently had been a muggleborn. He did not want her to chase Tom because he did not think that Tom was redeemable. He said all his line was cursed, muttered more like it but since her majority June had impeccable senses and she heard it. She had tried coaxing out information about it from Salazer but his house was not famous for cunning just like that. He had easily avoided the topic.

June had admitted defeat, and asked him about his origins. That was something Slytherin had been happy to tell her. His mother was the daughter of a Naga woman, who had accidentally found herself in these isles. That was when she found out about Nagas. Apparently Nagas had an affinity to Phoenixes. Usually they bonded with a phoenix as a familiar and Salazar's grandmother had flamed herself in the isles and then had been captured. Her phoenix had tried rescuing her, multiple times but it failed. So his grandmother had become a slave. She died giving birth to Slytherin's mother, used for pleasure by Slytherin's grandfather and the phoenix went away, singing a lament. Slytherin's mother ran away from his grandfather when she was young before she could be exploited. She knew both the Archaic tongue of isles and pareltongue. She met a fellow magical and had Salazar. His father's animagus form had been a snake. He was in crass language called 'Slither in' and the name stuck. His mother was a Naga, green eyed, just like Salazar's grandmother and she too had an animagus, a snake, but it was more of shape shifting than Animagus. When she got angry, she got fangs and her eyes turned to slits. A Naga trait, Slytherin presumed and he learned that eventually when he met another Naga.

All Nagas shared few traits; green eyes in various shades, lived near what they called 'Jambudweepa', loved phoenixes and had animagi forms of snakes. Again, it was not animagi specifically, but a shape shifting power where Naga was literally a part of their spirit and magic.

June had been fascinated but her mind had been on Tom, all she could think was would the Nagas have any way in which she could travel through time and nothing else.

Until she met Siddharth.

Cordelia kept the book aside. She had found out what she was looking for and she had a solution, but she had relive some memories again, just because, just because she wanted to.

She went gingerly to her memory vault. It was filled with thousands of memories. It reminded her of the library of prophecy orbs in Department of mysteries. Each memory neatly labelled with the date and the person which it belonged to.

There were several million of them. From Ron, Hermione, all the Weasleys, Neville, Luna, Draco, Narcissa, Siddharth and of course hers. There were other. Interviews with various others about several topics, from goblins, centaurs and a lot many creatures.

She went towards the pensieve and focused on the memory of when she first met Siddharth. The pensieve was connected to all the memories. It would show her any memory from the memory vault that she wanted to see. She entered the pensieve.

 _She had visiting United States because she had heard about Veela trafficking from Fleur and one of Fleur's cousins had been entrapped there.  
It was a big muggle casino and club. She had dressed to garner attention, courtesy of Narcissa and Emma Granger. A Scarlet colored dress hugged her scar less figure, two geometric cut straps went past her shoulders to a bare back, joining the dress back at waist until it flowed down in a skirt to cover half her thighs. _

_She had surprisingly been comfortable in her revealing attire. Narcissa had worked hard on getting her rid of her insecurities. June had not got rid of them but she had practiced enough to pretend that she had. Tonight, she was dressed as nobody would expect the clumsy June to dress as._

 _She had entered the club and she had felt a magical aura, an alluring one. She could always read auras after her majority but this one held her attention. It was old magic, very old magic. A wizard in a muggle club?_

 _She had looked until her eye lay on a man from the Indian subcontinent. Surprisingly his eyes seemed to be searching for her. It was then that June realize that the man could see her aura too which was not possible because June had concealed it. He just gave her a sardonic smile, more of a smirk. He knew she was concealing it._

 _Their eyes held each other for some time. He was popular. He had people coming on at him. He brought two drinks up to her and offered her one silently. She had raised her brows. She had again smirked but he did not push the drink in her hand. Their eyes still held each other. There was something about them, they were so green and something about his aura, it was so familiar._

 _When the next number went up, he offered up a hand for dancing, handing the full glasses to a passing waiter._

 _She just looked at him. She knew that she was getting distracted, she could feel the wards in one of the penthouse suites and feel a dozen veelas and 4 wizards' cores. She should have gone to attend them but she had been unable to resist the chance. Old magic meant she could find out something, something that could help her reach Tom and she took the man's hand._

 _She was better at dancing after stepping on Draco's toes numerous times and Narcissa's patient teaching._

 _"You cast a spell on me, spell on me  
You hit me like the sky fell on me, fell on me  
And I decided you look well on me, well on me  
So let's go somewhere no one else can see, you and me." The Music blared. _

_"What brings you here?" He asked._

 _"Life…"She had shortly said._

 _He had appeared confused but he shook it, "I am Siddharth." He literally shouted over the music, "And you are Ms. British person?"_

 _"June…" She said shortly. He had labeled her British using her accent. Too bad she could not do the same._

 _"I have heard that name." He said._

 _"I am sure you have..." She had muttered and he had raised a brow._

 _"Where are you from?" She had asked. His accent was not normal._

 _"Nowhere you would know about." He had answered._

 _"I am sure, I can sense the old magic." She had replied tartly._

 _He looked amused, "And that old magic is why your magical cloak on your aura does not work lady. You are quite powerful. "_

 _"Never seen a powerful women?" I asked, instantly tired at the idea of convincing a guy about my strength._

 _"Quite the contrary." He replied, "From where I come from, women kick ass!"_

 _She gave him a questioning look. She did not believe him but he sounded not just honest, but almost careless about the fact that women were powerful._

 _"I live in a cloaked island somewhere in the three seas that surround India. We have both matrilineal and patrilineal lines. " He replied._

 _"That's interesting." She had commented, wondering about him, her motives less than stellar. She wanted information from him that could possibly alter the timeline for the past 7 decades. She could possibly initiate events that would counteract his birth. She may very well be thinking of wiping a great number of people she loved from history but she would take her chances._

Cordelia fast-forwarded through the memory. The next hour had passed in easy conversation. June had not felt this comfortable around someone in long time, someone with whom she could discuss magic but who did not know her as the savior, as Juniper Potter. Apparently the only magical community Siddharth knew was his. He stayed away from other magical worlds, preferring to travel through muggle means and in muggle worlds.

It had not lasted. One of the traffickers whom she had come to catch and beat had entered the club. June's face had been splattered across enough international magazines for him to know her.

 _June had quickly flashed a look to Siddharth, detangled her hand from Siddharth's hand and quietly made her way outside to the balcony of the skyscraper. Siddharth had curiously followed._

 _"I am here on a mission, excuse me!" She turned around outside and told me._

 _"Anything I can help with?" He had asked, curiosity laced his voice. She had been about to tell him to mind his business when the trafficker had made to balcony to have a smoke. June did not want to lose the element of the surprise and shockingly on a spur, she pushed Siddharth on the wall behind and planted a kiss on his lips._

 _Narcissa had told her about the trick. She had dismissed it. There was no way that she would just randomly kiss a boy to divert attention from herself but that was exactly what she found herself doing. He smelled distinct, like petrichor and earth and he kissed her back._

 _The trafficker had snorted and left the balcony. The pureblood sods could never stand PDA. One of her palms was cupping Siddharth's cheek and as she distinctly feel it shift beneath her palm. Both the events made her halt the kiss and look upto Siddharth's face. She saw slits with green eyes and a pale skin._

 _"A Naga..." She just whispered._

 _And under a moment, she found herself pinned to the wall._

 _"Who are you?" Anger shone clearly in his face._

 _"I thought you were extinct." She just whispered back to him._

 _"Well, we are not. Answer my question, witch!" He hissed._

 _"_ _ **Juniper Potter at your service, young Naga."**_ _She inclined her head slightly in a formal gesture._

 _"_ _ **You speak!"**_ _His voice was surprised. She could tell about his eyes with those dark green slits._

 ** _I do."_** _She agreed._

 ** _"The only one who could speak was Slytherin's line in British isles. And his heir was a dark lord. Are you his daughter? What nefarious.."_** _He began agitatedly. His canines elongated slightly._

 _June just let out a sardonic laugh, "_ _ **Daughter, ha. You cannot be far off Naga. And you need to update your history. I killed the heir of Slytherin. I am the witch who defeated him. As for how I speak the tongue, I have no idea. I won the deeds of Slytherin castle, I guess by conquest and Salazer Slytherin, his portrait told me a bit about Nagas. I don't know much, only what he knew. Your people are safe. I never told another soul about them. Didn't I just say? I quite frankly thought you were extinct."**_

 _He calmed down and his eyes turned to normal forest green rather than the slits. He still looked wary._

 _"_ _ **I have some business here. I am sorry to have startled you. I assure you, you are safe. I will just attend to it and leave back for home."**_ _She whispered to him and escaped from his arms as he stared at her._

They had met again 20 minutes later when he had interrupted her fight with the four traffickers as she levitated them and threw them across the room. Frankly, he was trying to help her, throwing blasts of magic.

 _"You are freeing creatures, Isn't Potter a pureblood name?" He had curiously asked under a silencing bubble._

 _"Not all of us are bigots. Creatures have life and they have rights. I am no one to deny them. I try and help when I can." June admitted. It was true. June would have not denied Fleur alarmed request even if she did not ulterior motives. She was just hoping that Veela clans would listen to her and help her by teaching her a few of their magics._

 _"_ _ **What did Salazar tell you about Nagas?"**_ _He asked._

 _"_ _ **I have business right now. I need to make sure that they reach home safely and I believe you would want your involvement to remain a secret. I am in States for another month. I have come … I have come in search of something. I am currently living in a muggle hotel, away from the magicals. I receive too much attention. If you want, seek me out there. If I am not wrong, you can trace my magic now. But fair warning, paparazzi is not far away when I am concerned, so approach me at your own risk. I might just end up being the reason why Nagas are rediscovered."**_ _She had murmured and done a side along apparition with all the veelas._

Siddharth had come looking for her. His curiosity had peeked and he could not help it. And when he came, he had known everything ever reported about her through newspapers and magazines. He had been 'undecided' about her, as he put it.

She had told him about the war in greater detail. She had not mentioned the horcruxes at all.

 _"How did he not die?" He had promptly asked._

 _"Soul magic." She had given him the broader term, "Certain Greek wizards dabbled with it and Riddle likely got hold of the idea from somewhere."_

 _She had told him about Slytherin, the castle , the myths about him, about the old man himself, about his history with Nagas._

 _"Britain is an unlucky lands for Nagas." He had muttered darkly after hearing that._

 _She had given him a questioning look, "Our people always die there." He had said shortly._

 _"You come out of wherever your place is…"She asked._

 _"Rarely. Never without a purpose." He replied._

 _"Then what is your purpose Naga, if I may?" She had asked._

 _"Call me Siddharth." He had said, "I am purposeless. I have, for the lack of a better term, run away."_

 _"I can get running away. I am running from everyone that I know, simply because it is smothering." She had muttered, offering him tea._

 _He had smiled a sad smile, "My grandfather died in Britain. Killed by a werewolf in one of the forests. His phoenix was able to flame the body back to home."_

Both of them had just connected. She had eventually told him about Riddle and his childhood, how she wanted to reverse time, how she was exhausted of playing the savior all the time.

And he had eventually told her that he was the clan leader of the Nagas. He had inherited the title. He, at times, did not feel like taking a responsibility of an entire community but sometime he felt honor bound. Nagas had went into hiding as a community long time ago, afraid that their ways will be destroyed. They were still in touch with the main lands but they had for all purposes decided to declare a community death to save themselves from prosecution.

They had told each other a lot. He taught her parselmagic. She showed him the modern magic.

Cordelia shook herself from the onslaught of the details of the memories, instead focusing on the child of magic and her memories in relation to it.

She had questioned her inheritance of Slytherin deeds and her connection with Tom, after she felt a missing element in her magic after Siddharth and she separated. She could feel him from a distance and meanwhile June had been attacked with another onslaught of memories, not hers, ages old memories from points of view of women she had never seen.

She had been in US and Siddharth had come back to visit her when she had her first black out because the memories were too much. It had never crossed her mind to check Potter or Black libraries or vaults for information, or for that matter Slytherin.

Siddharth had been so worried that he had flamed her back to his home.

And it was there that she heard the term 'child of magic'. The healer, an old, really old lady called her the 'child of magic' and before she knew every member of the Naga clan present had went down on their knees including Siddharth. His expression was of awe and of surprise.

 _He had just muttered, "I should have known."_

 _"_ _ **How large is your core?"**_ _The lady, 'Amma', she was called._

 _"_ _ **I do not know.**_ _ **My magic was bound until I was 18. I gained a substantial amount when it was unbound and then I had my majority. I have never felt magical exhaustion after that. I once apparated 15 people at once and I did not even break sweat. I spent a day battling vampire, now that exhausted me but I felt like going out in the woods. I fell asleep for a couple of hours and I was fine."**_ _June had rambled._

 ** _"A child of magic… and thinking you knew her for six months Saddhu and never realized."_** _Amma gave an admonishing look to Siddharth._

 _"_ _ **What is a child of magic?**_ _" She had asked in a faint whisper._

 _And she was told, "Children of magic are novelty, anomaly. They come every few centuries when magic's need is dire and it needs external protection. Children of magic come to earth to restore the balance of magic, restore the balance of what you white wizards call dark and light magic. They are gray. They thrive in nature. They are children of earth, their magic comes from every natural thing, so they have endless supply of magic at their hands. They can soak in the magic of the nearest tree or animal or plant. They can take the energy from sun and use it as magic. That is why you never get exhausted. They usually come to their majorities early. Yours probably did not come because your magic was bound. When they earn their majority, they learn the truth about themselves gradually. Do not be afraid of those memories, they are there to help you, guide you in restoring magic." Amma spoke in clear English, with a little lilt like Siddharth._

 _I had looked at her dumbfounded._

 _"She has an in Physics." Siddharth told her helpfully._

 _"Okay." She had said in disbelief and then looked at the woman, "_ _ **So, you are saying that I am this savior of magic."**_

 _Siddharth had winced. He knew her issues with the word 'savior'._

 _"No, not a savior, but a protector, guardian. Magic is weak and it relies on you. Those memories, they are of other children of magic, one comes every epoch, and they are trying to teach you to commune with magic. They want you to save it. Feel the magic, Juniper. It is dying and only you can save it."_

 _"I want to save Tom, not get saddled with another responsibility…"She had shook her head, started to get up and had collapsed as Siddharth came forward to catch her._

 _"Take her to the meadow."Amma said._

 _And despite her protests, she had been taken outside among trees and grass and she could feel the magic in their pores, feel it so powerfully._

 _"This place is saturated with magic because it is so close to nature." Siddharth informed her._

 _She instinctively held out her hand as she sat on the grass and blue swirls of magic came out of every plant and her core, her entire body started absorbing the magic. She stopped after some five minutes and her exhaustion had went away._

 _All the Nagas were looking at her mesmerized._

 _"It is not a bad thing..'Siddharth began._

 _'Shhh" She silenced him because she could hear magic speak to her._

 _"She is dying and I can't cure it." She spoke aloud several minutes later, "What is the point?"_

 _"Yeah, she is dying. You can feel it. There are too few communities that treat her well. She is strong here but very weak in the mainland Indian subcontinent, very weak elsewhere even in US except for a few native hidden communities, weak where people are dividing it into dark, light. She needs both to survive and the prosecution of dark and the death of light by dark lords has not helped in her balance. She is dying because people refuse… refuse to treat her like a force, but divide it into constructs." Siddharth told._

 _"What can I do? I am but a woman. Too much damage has been done, too much lives have been lost. The matter of dark and light is at the crux of it. How can I ask people to forget it?" She asked, her voice forlorn._

 _"We will find a way." He had promised._

And they had. She had time traveled, not just to save Tom, but save magic in the process with Tom's help.

They had been so resolved and that was when the robot in her had switched itself on permanently. Her every single waking moment had been spent on making efforts to save magic and train for preventing the wizarding war with Voldemort.

And as for her missing Siddharth and Tom, the answer had been with Salazar. His wife, the muggleborn had been a child of magic, from the line of the Serpens. They too had interbred with nagas at some point and wielded the Parseltongue. Since their union, every child of magic from Serpens line had been promised to the line of Slytherin.

" ** _That had nothing to do with me. I am a Potter and my mother was a muggleborn. She does not even come from a line of squibs_** _." She had argued as Siddharth sat at her side, both mulling the problem._

 _"_ _ **You are related to the Serpens. How? I do not know but you are related**_ _." Salazar had maintained._

 _"_ _ **How are you so sure old man**_ _?" Siddharth had snapped._

 _"_ _ **Because she looks like my wife**_ _." Salazar had faintly whispered and pointed towards an alcove across from his portrait._

 _There, both she and Sid had found a still portrait of a woman who looked pretty similar to her. Not quite doppelgangers but the liking in appearance was too close to be coincidental._

 _"_ _ **Am I Tom's cousin then, through Slytherin and not just through the Peveral line? Are you my great grandfather? Why didn't you tell me**_ _?" She had screamed hoarse at Salazar._

 _"_ _ **No, not his cousin. No, if Tom Riddle had been whole, as in his soul had been whole, he would have been your first mate, your alpha mate. We, I and Alessa, my wife, never had children. She died before we could. Her sister was a magical and she married into a line. I suspect you are her descendant. You were fated to link your magic with my heir, Tom Riddle. He came from Gaunts, who came from Slytherin, a bastard line that came into being when a woman assaulted me and bore my bastard children after I lost Alessa.**_ _" Salazar said._

 _'_ _ **First mate**_ _?" June had asked._

 _"_ _ **She died, how? Children of magic do not die so easily**_ _…" Siddharth had asked._

 ** _"She killed herself_** _." Slytherin said shortly, "_ _ **I was her alpha mate but she needed her other magical mates to reign in the sheer strength of her magic. I was not comfortable with sharing. I banned her from seeking her other mates. She went insane from her attempts to handle the magic without her anchors, her mates to ground her. I simply was not powerful enough. In the end, she killed herself because her magic was getting destructive. I could not do anything. All of my line is cursed. We can be alpha mates of Children of magic but we do not deserve it. Tom does not deserved you!"**_

 _"_ _ **Mates, what does that mean**_ _?" Juniper had sharply asked though she now understood why Slytherin had muttered that all in his line were cursed._

 _"_ _ **I suspect your Naga knows June. He has known for a while. Don't you? After all, he is your beta mate**_ _." Slytherin had slyly said._

 _June had just looked at Siddharth and he had gone on to explain,_ _ **"Children of magic are an anomaly. They occur rarely. They can tilt the entire axis of magic. They come to save magic but they can easily destroy its balance too. Every child of magic has a harem, multiple mates, from every kind of magic, dark, light, gray. The mates do not necessarily mean a lover. It means a magical link to an anchor that solidifies the child of magic's relation to the grassroot world. Often, it is very powerful witches and wizards. There is no bound on gender and sex. A male child of magic can have a male mate just as easily. For instance, you can have a female mate or multiple female mates, depends on how strong you are. The link with mates formalizes after the majority of the child of magic. So from what Salazar tells me, Riddle would have been your Alpha because of a magical vow between families. Your magic cannot find him because he is dead and your magic will keep looking for him to satisfy its needs of an anchor, a channel. I am your Beta, perhaps because I reek of old magic and since Slytherin and Naga lines are intertwined. Your magic thinks that I can fill the hole that Riddle's absence left. I did not say anything because I did not want to freak you out. You probably have other mates, people you are dependent on. Your magic would have latched to them in order to stabilize itself. The mates are kind of like stabilizers."**_

 ** _"So, I only feel like looking for Tom because he is my mate…"_** _June spoke faintly._

 _"_ _ **No, you want to look for him because you are kind. You wanted to look for him before the majority as well. But yes, you need to look for him because your magic will become explosive without him in long run. And you might just destroy the world**_ _." Siddharth argued back passionately and then continued somberly._

 _"_ _ **Not necessarily. You can fool the magic if you find other mates, enough mates to stabilize your magic. You will have to actively fool it. That is why I did not want you to dwell on Tom. The more you dwell on him, the more aware the magic will become of the absence, and you will keep becoming unstable."**_ _Salazar told._

 ** _"I need some air"_** _She had run away outside to Voldemort's grave._

 _"I am an anomaly, an aberration, a freak!" She had spoken bitterly as Siddharth came and sat beside her by the grave._

 _"No, not an aberration, but a gift. The world would be in a worse state if it were not for you." He argued back._

 _"I killed my mate and I received his rightful legacy as a cruel award. I am the Lady of Slytherin not because of conquest but that stupid vow that Salazar and the clans of Serpens made." She spoke stubbornly._

 _"You did not kill your mate. He could have been your mate if there were no horcruxes. You killed a monster." Siddharth shook his head._

Siddharth and she had talked at length after that day. That was when she involved the rest of her friends.

She had not focused on getting other mates because she wanted to reach Tom, her duties as Child of magic be damned.

But being the Child of magic had other perks too. Yes, she was responsible for the welfare of magic, that is every single magical creature on earth was her responsibility but her status earned her the trust and respect of other magical creatures. Goblins had helped in her researches in Egypt. Veelas had taught her the art of seduction. Centaurs had helped her with her Bows and Arrows. Werewolves, some of them had helped her with her strength training. She had been able to do and learn so much.

She had found more and more about the child of magic. From Slytherin library, from personal notes of Alessa. From the lore in Siddharth's land and from the memories that were on an onslaught on her mind.

On the advice of Slytherin, she scoured the Black and Potter family vaults to find out how she was linked to the Serpens line.

Turns out that the Blacks came from the matrilineal lines of Serpens. Alessa's sister Estelle's blood had passed through the main Black line and June got the affinity for magic from her grandmother Dorea, the only surviving daughter of the main Black line. Estelle was the reason why all Blacks were named after celestial bodies.

The other girl from the main Black line, daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy had died at the hands of a werewolf when she was nine months old.

That was when June hatched the plan with Death to save Cordelia Faye Black and merge her soul with hers. She also saved the life of Sid's grandfather. A request to Death, that's all it took. Her friends knew that her other dimension avatar had to be Black but she never told them that she knew exactly who she was going to be when she left the dimension. In fact, she had only been able to dimension travel because her body could take the strain of the travel because she was a child of magic.

She had a solid plan and for the next 4 and a half years, she worked on it with everything.

Siddharth though, she had unintentionally gotten involved with him. She did not want to, she would only hurt him by leaving, but she had.

Another memory popped up. Siddharth's by the shades of it.

 _"You cannot let her Sid. You are the only one who can stop her from this madness. She can't go back in time. She cannot save Tom. He was as evil…look what he did to Ginny in the chamber of secrets…Listen to Salazar. She is better off with you…Just because Tom is her alpha mate, she thinks it is her responsibility to save Tom. She thinks he is essential to save magic while their bond is nothing but an ages old vow that tied them together. I can't." Hermione's favorite lecture tone was on and it seemed that Siddharth had been on the receiving end._

 _June had always known that Hermione was hoping that they would not find a way back in time._

 _"…tampering with time can have catastrophic consequences…She has you…She has Draco…She has us. Isn't that enough? Why does she need another mate when she has you?"_

 _And Siddharth had lifted her and pinned her to a wall, "Granger, for a minute do not think that you can boss me or bully me the way you do to June. It is a good thing she stopped bothering about your opinion. You, Hermione, do not need to tell me how devastated I will be when she leaves. When not if, because she is leaving. She needs to do this or she will never be able to live with herself and that's problematic to you, isn't it. For the first time, June is picking her goal, her wish before anyone else's and that bothers you. June should just stay contented with what she has, she should be grateful to it. She is trying to save magic, she is trying to save the world and in the meanwhile she wants to save a boy that she thinks was hurting beyond anything. People who care about you should not be a privilege but a right. She knows Tom, she understand him because people like you and Dumbledore have made her think that love is a privilege not an entitlement. My love is not a privilege. She will have it whether she leaves or not. She will have it when she succeeds in her mission. She will even have it if she turns her back on light and starts supporting dark to align herself with Riddle. It is difficult being the mate of a child of a magic. I know that, Draco knows that…But have you ever considered how difficult it is for June to just exist? All she has known is her identity as a savior… The only reason she is alive is because of a purpose and that purpose is to save Riddle. She will stop living the day you snatch away the purpose from her. Do not presume that you can coax her into staying back just because you are afraid of a few broken hearts. I don't want her heart to break. I can deal with my heart burn. So, thank you, but I will love her the way I please, even if that love means that I have let go of her forever."_

Cordelia jumped out, pushed herself out of memory, tears streaming down her face. Siddharth's loyalty had always been so endearing and it always pushed her on the edge of guilt.

She sank to the floor and cried.

* * *

She quieted down after some time. She knew that memories of Siddharth were on an onslaught because her magic was demanding a mate, demanding a majority. She was not linked Tom Riddle yet. She would not be until this body went through majority but the existing magical links were feeling the absence of their anchors and were revolting.

She wiped her tears. She knew how to deal with it though. Her strongest link had to be with Voldemort and she had lived with the absent link for over 5 years. Occulumency and runes. It had helped her to channel her grief and it had helped her to function as a root to find a solution. Right now, Siddharth was away, by how much, she did not know. She could not do or achieve anything by thinking of him and getting guilt ridden. Sid was right. Her purpose was to save Riddle. She had come so far, she would not deter only because a few memories made her lose her emotional cool.

She went to the ritual room and started drawing runes in her blood. She would lock the emotions of the memories, only retaining the information and the flimsiest feelings about her past in her mind palace. She would do it, because she loved both Tom and Sid but she had known for very long that she would choose Tom over Sid any day.

It did not mean that this was not hurting. His love and her love for him had been her biggest support system through it all. They had both …

She almost wept again.

But this was not the end of Siddharth and her feelings for him. She would come to terms with them, one day, one day when her link with Tom would stabilize and Tom would know love, that day she would open the valve of all her emotions and she would come to terms with it. She would come back to remember June, she would come back to remember her Sid, she would come back to remember their love, which had blossomed against all odds, a love that she denied, a love that she was afraid of, a love she had gotten used to.

 _It started out as a feeling  
Which then grew into a hope  
Which then turned into a quiet thought  
Which then turned into a quiet word  
And then that word grew louder and louder  
'Til it was a battle cry  
I'll come back when you call me  
No need to say goodbye_

She completed the runic circle and took a swig of blood replenishing potion. She went and sat down in the centre of the circle.

Then she began chanting in parseltongue, locking down her mind from certain emotions associated with tons of memories, creating barriers in her mind that were as good as unbreakable, binding them through blood.

" **I bind you, I bind my memories, drowning them in my blood…I bind them until I release them again**." She hissed.

She had never done this before, this barriers might fail in the near future, and they would overwhelm her. But they would buy her time, enough time to possibly save Tom from himself, enough time to secure his position in Wizarding world. Time, that is all she needed. Only Time.

 _Who can say where the road goes?  
Where the day flows?  
Only time  
And who can say if your love grows  
As your heart chose?  
Only time_

Who can say why your heart sighs  
As your love flies?  
Only time  
And who can say why your heart cries  
When your love lies?  
Only time

Who can say when the roads meet  
That love might be in your heart?  
And who can say when the day sleeps  
If the night keeps all your heart,  
Night keeps all your heart?

* * *

 **Phew! As usual, I thought I would never get this done. It is the longest chapter yet and very important too. It is over 6500 words. I suddenly feel a need to pat my back.  
I am sorry about the update being an interlude. I know all of you want to see Tom and Corrie and a lot of you hate Siddharth. I don't know why honestly. He is not a threat to Tom and Corrie's relationship. He is a dimension away. He probably cannot even survive dimension travel like June because he is not a child of magic. And this will be the last you see of him for a long time since Cordelia is locking her emotions. SO be happy. Just because she had a history in romance with another bloke does not mean that Cordelia would not love Tom as much. She would always choose him, above everybody. I hope this interlude makes that clear. **

**Next week will be a chapter with only Tom and Cordelia, so cheers. Just a teaser. It is called ' A hug can go a long way' and it is written because I am swamped with midterm work.**

 **Also I received feedback that my story is a 'pain to read' but interesting. I wonder if many people feel that way. I do try my best to correct and edit the chapters but if the errors are that bad that it is painful to read, then well, let me know. I will try and do something about it but give specific feedback people.**

 **I do not own Regina Spektor's Call or Enya's Only Time. They are just beautiful songs that I am using for my story. Don't sue me.**

 **The idea of child of magic occurs in various stories so I don't know who to credit it for, but I am very sure that I tweaked it enough to not resemble another person's work blatantly. If I do, let me know, I will add the credits.**

 **Please Read and Review. Also, Yippee, I crossed the mark of 300 followers the past week.**


	12. Ch 6: A Hug can go a long way

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan.

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) This is a gender bender. Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing

* * *

.

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue _"_**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: A hug can go a long way**

 **Cordelia's POV**

Tom and she were partnered up for potion next week starting Monday and both had decided to fix the arrangement unless one of the other people needed their expertise.

"I have never understood why they publish substandard recipes." Tom muttered, as he added the lacewing flies, few good minutes before they were supposed to according to the book.

Cordelia stirred it with a glass rod in an obscure pattern that only people who understood the intricacies the potionery would appreciate, "I wondered the same and grumbled a lot until the day I saw Cousin Sebastian on a cauldron." She smiled without looking up from the potion. "After second year, I saw him literally destroy a simple pepper up potion, all the while reading the most basic instructions. Texts do not necessarily contain the best recipes for the potions, but they contain the easiest ones. I hardly think anybody could complete this at the pace we are."

"Does not mean I have to like it?" He added a little sullenly.

"True that, which is why we are using our innovation." She shrugged, "I do not think Slughorn would dare to object. "

"Dumbledore does not appreciate when we scurry ahead. He tries to hide it but.."Riddle began as he added another ingredient while lowering the flame.

"I do not like him much either." Cordelia said wryly.

Riddle looked surprised, "I did not think that he disliked you."

"He does not, in fact, he seems to think I am a perfect angel." Cordelia murmured, "But that does not change the fact that he looks so dubiously at the rest of Slytherins including you. I do not think we have, as a house, done anything to acquire his displeasure. I mean he tries to be discreet about it but to a well trained eye, the act is obvious. Just because he makes an exception for me does no good. In fact, I seem to think he is treating me as 'innocent until proven guilty', you know! I have no business making amends with a man who is prejudiced towards a whole house on the basis of a dogma." She looked a bit irritated and there was an angry glint in her eyes.

She gave the potion a final stir.

"Done." Tom said lightly without making a comment on her remarks on Dumbledore.

"Spare 20 minutes. That reminds me," She rummaged through her dragonhide bag and pulled out a journal and handed it over to him.

He curiously opened it and saw Cordelia's neat Calligraphy.

It was her notes on parseltongue, annotated with book name, page numbers and editions and brief summary of her experimentation with it.

"The green ink is for the ones I have tried. The red is for the one which my reading or my discussions with elders warned to take slowly or later when I had more knowledge. You can keep it for now. I am looking for a good duplication spell but I have not had any luck. I am currently busy finishing the warding text father has sent, so I am not in urgent need of it. If I require it, I will borrow it from you." She gave him an expectant look.

Riddle did not say anything, just nodded. There was a thoughtful look on his face.

"I am not trying to trick you." She said softly. In fact, her expression looked stricken.

Tom shook his head, "Thank you Cordelia. I did not mean to stay silent otherwise. It is extremely generous of you to give me free reign over your notes. I was just pondering on how _rare_ such gestures are. I did not mean to offend." He offered a smile.

"You do not have to say that. You are right to be cautious. Many of the Slytherins would have hand you over to their families on platter if you had not taken appropriate oaths. Many would like to defeat you lest you threaten the positions their families are and some will gain your favor only because of your family name. But I am hoping that one day, you won't need to be so cautious around me." She smiled sadly at him.

And then the bell rang.

 **Tom's POV**

Later in the week, All the fourth years in Slytherin who studied Ancient Runes were heatedly discussing their ideas of the runic circle that they were supposed to come up for the term project.

Cordelia had been lightly giving out her opinions but she was distracted. She was the only women in the class and it seemed that Professor Foster was mighty pleased with her for even opting for the course.

Well, Juniper had studied wards in great depth post the war and Cordelia was no slouch either, so Runes and Arithmancy both came to her naturally.

"Corrie, come, we are heading down for dinner.'' Abraxas' voice came from in front of her.

She nodded absent mindedly but did not move an inch. The runic circle just lacked one small thing and Cordelia could not remember it.

Abraxas gave a low chuckle. Orion also shook his head. Tom also looked amused. Looking at the perturbed look of Rosier and Cordelia's cousins, he said, "Go ahead, I will bring your cousin to her dinner."

He ignored the sullen expression of Renatus.

 **Tom's POV**

He waited for about 10 minutes and watched Cordelia's facial expression morph from frustrated to keen, to irritated and on. She scrunched up her nose or widened her eyes or bit her lips slightly. The common room was empty, the fourth years had been the last to leave.

He finally decided to intervene. "Cordelia," He called out, she did not listen. He finally went up to her and gently placed a hand on her journal.

She looked startled and looked at him with widened eyes.

 **Cordelia's POV**

"Dinner?" He inquired. She immediately cast a tempus.

"Oh, I am terribly sorry Tom. I did not realize it was this late. I cannot believe I am missing something small when I made the entire runic circle compatible with each other." Her lips grimaced.

"Am I right to assume that you will continue the tirade when we are eating in the hall?" Riddle asked delicately.

Cordelia opened her mouth, but one finger from Riddle on her lips silenced her. "I know you sufficiently to determine that. So, may I take a look and perhaps I could be of some assistance?"

She looked sheepish and handed him the journal. He placed it carefully on the desk and stood beside her.

Riddle took her quill and drew the missing link. "Does that help?" He asked her.

She took one look at it and gave such a large smile, larger than the one she had given when she had received the letter about Binns. Tom was basking in it.

And before Tom realized or had time to think, Cordelia had flung her arms around his neck and embraced him tightly. "Thank you Tom, I owe you one."

Tom froze. Cordelia noted it. But before she left his embrace, he gingerly wrapped her arm around her waist.

He swallowed tightly but by then Cordelia had lifted her head from his shoulder. She left her arms wrapped loosely around his neck but she gave him a concerned look. Then, she shuffled her feet and as she was starting to ask something, Riddle cut her off, "I am not angry, Cordelia." He paused. She relaxed in his arms. He continued, "I..."He again swallowed.. "I… Nobody has ever embraced me before. I was just surprised, that's all." He finished it with great hesitance and he never looked at her. Probably ashamed.

He looked so vulnerable in that moment but his eyes widened as her arms tightened and she once again flung her head over his shoulders.

 **Tom's POV**

This hug was tighter than before.

Cordelia was trying hard to hold back her tears. It was with great modicum that she did not cry.

Riddle tightened his hold over her waist too. He felt her nose on his neckline and he too decided to plunge in the experience and buried his head in her hair. She smelled distinct. It was not flowery. He could not quite pinpoint it.

"Well, we will have to remedy that," She murmured softly in his neck and sniffled.

Tom did not say anything.

She did not pity him and she did not seem put off by it. He basked in his first hug.

"We should get to dinner." Cordelia said slowly after what was minutes.

He slowly and reluctantly released his hold on her and she also stepped away from him.

She gave him a small, reassuring smile and then with a glint of mischief, she took both of his hands in hers and begun pulling him along with her, " Let's go and eat in kitchens. I don't fancy eating in great hall. I don't want people to annoy me out now."

 **Tom's POV**

The dinner was relatively quiet. Turned out, Cordelia in her month here had not just endeared herself to him, but to the entire brigade of house elves as well.

She requested them for the dinner that was being served in the great hall and some quiet.

There was a small, cozy table and they both ate dinner in silence.

Cordelia occasionally spoke about house elves though, telling hilarious stories of how they created a racket over their orders.

He did not miss the concern in her eyes though. She smiled and took things lightly but her eyes told a different story.

Somehow, that night increased his respect for her. She was likely confused, worried sick about how casually he said he never was hugged in his life. She made them come to kitchen so that he could avoid the crowd and people. But she did not pester him, asking him to explain, elaborate or to open up.

People did that too often. She respected his space, gave him room, but she watched him like a hawk for the rest of the night until he went up to the common room, even when they were back in the common room, but subtly.

He could not sleep at first that night, memories of orphanage and the loneliness crept unto him, but then he remembered her arms around him and he closed his eyes to remember it properly and immediately drifted off into a deep slumber at the thought of her warmth.

 **Cordelia's POV**

It was two days later at breakfast that they got around to a proper conversation. Her Quidditch practices had her worn out and she had decidedly spent the day with Lucretia and Dorea. She did see him, smiled at him and they shared a conversation or two, but understandably, she was busy too. Though she did make it a point to hug him good night, on both days.

She had another journal out. It seemed a new one, it was less worn, but she had managed to fill quite a few pages in it too.

"What are your thoughts on the chamber of secrets?" She quietly asked.

They were both early for breakfast. Nobody was around.

Riddle raised a delicate brow. "Oh, I know you would be searching for it. If you are not, we should begin that now. It could give you access to a fair bit of Slytherin family history. But I meant as in the beliefs around it. The whole monster and purging dirty blood propaganda in Hogwarts: A History." She said without looking up from her journal.  
"I am not sure I believe anything in the story." Riddle said carefully, "The only reason I even buy into the whole legend of the chamber is that a legend has to have some basis in fact. The only thing I am certain of is there must be chambers of all the founders somewhere. I understand that the vault system of Gringotts might have taken over and stored every possession but there has to be some sign, some insignia of the founders, some legacy that they left behind in the school beside the sorting hat."

"Gringotts began in 1474. Everything from the founders was either in their personal manors or here at School. Now, the difference might be that somebody from school with knowledge of those chambers or artifacts deposited them in the bank. Slytherin does have a vault. About 40% of school's revenue goes into the separate vaults of founders. That is 10% of each year's revenue. Hogwarts does not earn much but 10% each year, untouched for about 500 years, gaining interest would be quite a sum of money. Maybe, the journals and artifacts are there. But I still think Chamber of Secrets is worth looking for. Slytherin valued cunning, I think he would have ensured that the person to receive his life's work has the qualities he admired. But it is just a thought." She mused.

"I have not had any luck as of yet." Riddle admitted.

"I will add it to the list." She concurred.

"You have a list." Riddle looked amused.

She passed him a journal. It was blank.

"I permit Tom Marvolo Riddle to see the contents." She intoned. Text appeared.

It read Goals.

 ** _Goals till Christmas_**

 _Find Secret passages in the castle. (It had 2 checkpoints and the word House elves in a different ink)_

 _Learn advanced transfiguration in the family ability. (Ask for more books.)_

 _Family abilities and magic. Learn more about the totems and how they work._

 _Research on Animagi._

 _Complete the warding requirements for a novice._

 _Prepare significant potions and a way to increase their portability._

 _Complete the anatomy texts of Healing. Pester Mediwitch for a more hands on approach._

 _Vat Heir Potter and Heir Prewett for cousins._

 _Get Ian to increase his grades._

 _Tell Mr. Riddle about the parseltongue ability without hurting anybody._

 _Get Binns fired._

 _Catch the snitch. Win quidditch._

 _Find a Unicorn._

 _Talk about Slughorn to Uncle._

 _Keep Alphard in line. Keep an eye on Walburga._

 _Learn advanced defensive magic. Try to rope in Riddle for duelling practice._

 _Research more spells and more into spell creation._

 _A letter of Gringotts asking for due procedure for inheritance testing for a lost line._

 _Founder artifacts or remains. (Take Tom's help)_

 _Emancipation (Research. Take Tom's help. Not to disclose to anyone in family)_

 _Slytherin Family totem or magic. (Wait for inheritance or attempt it before? research)_

 ** _Work towards these goals by the second term_**

 _Possibility of a Hogwarts Court- Ask Tom_

 _Slytherin Heir rooms in the dorm. (How will they open for Tom? Family Magic? Heir Ring? Lord ring? Research!)_

 _Find more about the Gaunts. (Ask Uncle Hyperion to tell those awful stories of the Wizangomot evictions)_

 _Vet other Slytherins for their purpose to align with Tom. Ensure loyalty to the House._

 _Improve the reputation of Slytherin._

 _Make friends in other houses. Make Hogwarts a family. Check for the authenticity of the rivalry with Gryffindor. We need support if we have to change the way things are run._

 _What does Dumbledore want?_

It had side notes from her and each goal had two paged dedicated to it. Quite a few were blank but quite had small annotations of books, page numbers, reports, or notes from other sources.

"That is quite a list." Tom managed. He was overwhelmed, the woman had not just been sitting idle. She had set targets, and in spite of everything else she had added, she had remembered and care enough to add goals to help him out and then showed it to him.

"I assure you it is not a tactic to gain your trust. My intent is on delivering on what I promised." She said wryly as if reading his mind, the other half, which he was refusing to listen to.

"What do you want?" It slipped out of his mouth, Cordelia was sure. He looked on guard.

She left the quill with which she was writing and looked at him, "I want to change the world Tom, make it a better place where dark and light don't divide people, where children do not instantly hate each other because they have different dominant traits. I want to be free, to make my own choices and not get hindered or questioned, just because I am a woman. I want people to see that noble houses are humans too, not pompous, overzealous gits, I want people to find that muggleborns are humans too, just scared and baffled at a new world that they are thrust in and that they just cling to what they know best, muggle wisdom. I was not sure how I am going to do that. I still am not. I had not thought that I would begin at school. I just wanted to learn as much as I can. I had not thought about encountering somebody else with skill and power to match mine and somewhat similar goals. I am considered a prize in the wizarding world. I am not sure if you have heard the rumors or not, they say I am the most beautiful creature to walk in wizarding world for centuries. People don't see me, they see my beauty, or my power, or that I am a daughter of the House of Black and House of Malfoy. I am a person beside all that. People fail to value me intrinsically which is why I made it a point to be with people, just talk to them, value them. When I saw you, perhaps I was presumptive, but I thought people did not see you, they saw the heir of Slytherin with muggle roots. Some wanted to take advantage, some were hopeful that you would lead them against the tyranny of light, some wished to groom, some to help. But I did not want to see the heir of Slytherin, I respect the title, I respect your power, but I would rather value you for you than something that is added to the real you. I felt a kinship and I thought I would have a real friend. But that friend needs help, to find his roots and to find people who are genuine. And he could help me too, he is the only one who does not discriminate against me because I happen to be a girl. He distrusts me as he would distrust a man from my background and abilities." She shrugged, a hint of smile towards the end.

"Treating people as people?" His voice had a questioning edge, "That could be interpreted in various ways, at the most fundamental interpretation, it depends on who you categorize as people."

"I lay my heart out to you and you question me, you wound me, Tom, you wound me." She said with mock hurt.

Riddle looked at her as if she had grown another head.

"Addition to list, Make Tom appreciate humor. "She muttered under her breath in exasperation.

Then she looked at him, gave him a sheepish smile, "I would be delighted to engage in that conversation, however, we are late for creatures. During Lunch?"

Riddle narrowed his eyes at her, but nodded.

 **Tom's POV**

Tom missed lunch due to the idiosyncratic buffoon Lestrange.

Okay, Lestrange was not a complete idiot. He understood the pureblood politics and he was cunning. But he was vain and too arrogant.

He was in Tom's circle because he hoped to get Tom under the thumb of House Lestrange.

Tom appreciated the ambition of the plan but he grew weary of the lack of cunning and subtlety. Tom had hence planned around Lestrange's plan to gain more power. Lestrange did not realize but he was a pawn.

But what was interesting was Lestrange hated Cordelia. He had trying probing the exact matter, subtly of course, but Lestrange just grew redder at even her mention and proceeded to call her unflattering names, none of which seemed to suit her.

Cordelia was extremely fair, not a snooty witch like Lestrange implied. Nor was she a veela, pulling people in her lure. Nor was she a leech. She talked to muggleborns too, ones who had no family name. She had treated him fairly. Nor was she ungrateful, in fact she was extremely gracious. She was not an irritating witch who did not know her place. Cordelia was very intelligent, sometimes he thought more than him, who understood matters that quite a few teachers failed to. She was not tactless, she kept secrets, he had yet to take an oath from her, but she had not revealed anything to anybody. He was sure she would give one readily but he was sure she would get sad that he did not trust her.

He did not like it when her smile lost the happiness. He did not understand it but he knew he trusted her. Somehow, he just did.

And that worried him. He had never felt things apart from anger, disgust for people, if ever he got beyond to looking at them as possible pawns in the game he wanted to play in.

She interested him and then there was this strong urge to see her smile all the time. He could not afford to engage in such sentimentalities.

But Renatus was a fool if he thought he could make Cordelia look bad. She seemed to be honest and upfront, at least. She had been kind, so kind and she had made it clear that people were out to use him. She had not denied that she wanted to use him too but she wanted friendship as well, mutually helping each other.

He was not so sure that he could do that.

* * *

 **So here is the next chapter. As promised. I am living a very hectic schedule right now. Don't worry, I will update as usual but I probably won't be able to get back to the reviews. I will respond back to each one after 16th passes over. But that does not mean that you do not leave a review at all. They are all that I look forward to in the next week, so please help by reviewing and curse midterms into the seventh heaven.**

 **Also, people are getting worried about too many interludes. There won't be any now till 11th chapter, as far as my opinion goes. So, enjoy tons of Corrie and Tom for a long while.**

 **Also, Tom is gradually going to soften up to Cordelia. She is being very patient with him and is too sweet. Let me know if the change seems abrupt, I will try and do something about it.**

 **And yes, welcome new readers and thank you old ones.**


	13. Chapter 7: Midnight Blue at Midnight

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan.

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) This is a gender bender. Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing

* * *

.

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue** ** _"_**

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Midnight Blue at Midnight**

 **Cordelia's POV**

The first quidditch match for Slytherin was in first week of November, right around Halloween. Flint was making them practice hard.

Cordelia was still a hidden secret. She was not very sure how Tom had managed that, likely the members of Slytherin Court were patrolling and keeping intruders out. She had not bothered to confirm her hunch, she was concentrating on the snitch. It had been years since she had played quidditch, when Juniper had been 16. She had been 24 when she had made the dimension change. She was ten years older than the age she was pretending to be, but so far it had been fine. When she was fourteen, she had been engaged in that god awful tournament,, this quite, normal life seemed good.

Riddle was keeping her on toes and she had several plans in motion for saving this dimension.

Things were looking up.

It was Saturday evening. Cordelia had looked for Tom but he had disappeared off the face of earth.

Cordelia had wanted to move forward with some of the plans and she had thought about moving to find him, but had decided against it, thinking that Tom deserved some privacy.

Abraxas had told her that it was quite routine for him to disappear like that. Most people assumed that he was off practicing or studying more advanced magic. Well, what people assumed, Cordelia knew to be true.

She spent the day recording her skill progression in metamorphagus abilities. She could completely manipulate her hair and facial features now. She planned or working on limbs next week.

But she had been exhausted post lunch and she took a well deserved nap.

Post dinner, she had settled into one of the cushioned couches of the common room. She was waiting for Tom. He had remained elusive the entire day. Nobody had even seen him at meals.

Though she was passing time by reading up on Gaunts. But the book described a quiet medieval version of them but it was interesting to read more about family politics anyway.

She had been sitting for about an hour, when the incessant chattering of a group of girls bothered her. Juniper had hoped that some women might be more righteous about their right even in the 40s. She had no such luck. Dorea seemed sympathetic, so did her Aunt Cassieopiea but she was yet to find a kindred spirit. Too bad.

They were cooing over some cat as she noted. She herself was more of a dog person. She averted her eyes.

"It is so adorable..."

"His fur is so soft."

"I have never seen this rich black."

She ignored all the commentary until she heard the last statement from Lyra Greengrass.

"I have seen such beautiful blue eyes on a cat. Such a pretty midnight blue."

She stiffened. "It can't be." Her thoughts raced. But then she made a decision and approached the group.

It was awful, they were trying to tie colorful, sparky ribbons around the cat's neck and trying to stifle it with perfume, quite expensive perfume. The cat looked frazzled and angry and ready to pounce.

Tom or not, the cat needed help.

"Oh my God, stop trying to smother and crowd it. You are scaring him." She quickly removed the two of them and made way to the cat.

Her suspicions were confirmed when cat immediately scampered in her arms when she opened them. She removed all the contraptions from him and started rubbing circle on his head, "There, there, you are fine now, we won't bother you."

The girls looked a bit offended. Cordelia did not care, "Where did you find him?" She questioned.

"He was sneaking into the common room." Tara shrugged.

"And you just scooped him and decided to play dress up." Cordelia's tone was indignant. "What about the owner? You did not think that the cat must belong to somebody and just decided to manhandle him."

"Well, they should take better care of their pet if they don't want them to fall in stranger hands." Aimee Parkinson said, as she examined her nails.

"Yeah, well, since it is clear that none of you know how to care of a living being. I am taking over his care. I will make sure to return him to its rightful owner." She said placidly and walked away. She did not care for their complaints behind her.

She conjured a small blanket and wrapped the cat in it.

"You must be starving." She muttered, then grabbed a couple of cupcakes from Alphard's desert basket and stashed them in her pocket. She had just sent him one two days ago. She was sure he was too busy in his magazine to note it and even if he did, he was unlikely to protest since she was the one who sent him.

Her mind was working fast. If this was Tom, she needed to recover his wand.

She quickly made her way to the entrance of the common room.

"Late night stroll." Burke smiled at her.

"I need some fresh air, Herbert. I won't get caught." She quickly shot him a smile.

"Alright, I will ask the prefect to look the other way and run interference in case you land in some trouble. But remember the rule, Don't get caught." He instructed.

She raised her one brow delicately.

"Of course, it is you. You won't get caught." Burke smirked.

She rolled her eyes and stepped outside into the corridor.

She was carrying the cat in one arm like one carried a baby and had her wand out in the other.

She muttered a few spells. She took a brisk walk in a direction of dungeons where even Slytherin ventured seldom.

She came to a stop in front of a clean gap. She took out a cupcake and offered it to the cat. The cat nibbled at it and in moments had devoured it. She gave it the other one as well.

"You know I am a fair bit of a tracker." She looked at the cat right in the eye with a smile tugging at her lips when he had finished. "And I am also adept at banishing illusions."

The cat stiffened.

She wandlessly conjured a small glass and filled it with water with a mutter of 'Aguamenti and offered it to the cat.

The cat gingerly drank it down too.

And then Cordelia directly stepped into what seemed to be a wall.

"I reckon you got the idea from The Platform 9 and 3/4." She casually commented.

The cat again became immobile. She vanished the glass.

She conjured a table next and placed the cat on it. "To figure out what you did to yourself, I need to find your wand." She looked it right in the eye.

The way the cat glared back at her, she got her confirmation.

"Alright it is you." She narrowed her eyes.

But then she began looking around in the room, "What, exactly, were you doing? Animagus transformation? Human transfiguration? Or a spell went wrong?" She mused.

The cat continued to glare.

"You know I am only trying to help. Accio is out of question, I am sure you have put up an anti summoning charm. Wands are important." She muttered.

It was an old classroom, unused for quite a number of years. Ancient furniture was all put up against the wall making considerable space in the center.

Everything was old but the walls had recent spell chaffing indicating that there had been use of offensive and defensive spells in the room.

"If I can figure out where you were standing when the spell hit you.." She wondered.

There was no indication. The room was relatively clean.

A realization hit her and she went and picked Tom back, "You hid the wand, didn't you? You did not want anybody else to find it."

The cat did not look in the mood of talking.

"Alright, don't help. I am just an untrustworthy witch who keeps bothering you." She was angry but she cradled the cat gently in her arms.

Then her eyes fell on one particular part of well in the back of the room, towards the right sided edge.

"A reflector surface…" She muttered. She approached it and touched it deftly, muttered a spell. An area lit up.

"One spell reflected back... I can't believe you were this careless." She said her tone almost reproaching.

"Ouch." The next moment she gasped in pain. She looked surprised and then she calmly removed the top of her blouse from her right shoulder. There were four angry red nail marks on it. Three guesses to how it happened. Tom as cat had gotten angry at her reproach and had reacted.

She stared at the nail marks and then back to Tom. He looked defeated and frightened now.

She pulled the blouse back on and sighed.

"Look at me," She said softly, " I know you are frightened. I would be too. You are feeling helpless and powerless. I promise I am not going to take advantage of this or spread rumors or harm your wand or you in any way. My jab did not help, but I never intended to say it to ridicule you but as a friend would correct other friend. I swear you will be normal by morning."

The cat nuzzled her neck hesitantly. She gave him a slight smile.

"The spell hit here, so you were between there or there.' She muttered.

Then she saw, Tom lifting a paw and pointing towards one place.

She nodded.

Tom had perhaps managed to mix it within the wood pieces of the furniture.

She carefully bent on her knees, adjusting the arm on which Tom was gently and began rummaging on the floor with her other hand.

"Found it." She muttered. "I will just keep it safe for you." She said ensuring that the phoenix feather would not react to June. Though it was unlikely since June had changed and Cordelia was a totally different person, but she still took the countermeasure.

She stashed it in her arm pocket. "There is no use in lingering. I will have to figure out which transfiguration principle you used, and the amount of power."

She got off the floor, exited the room and began moving back to the common room.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

Tom was irritable. The body of a cat was hindrance. His vision and hearing were all haywire and he could not even harmonize with them because it was transfiguration and not animagus transformation. He had a massive headache. And now, he was feeling sluggish.

He was warm wrapped in the blanket and Cordelia's fragrance was so homely and her slow walk was slowly lulling him into sleep. It just seemed so cozy.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

Tom woke up. He opened his eyes. He was not in his room though it was Slytherin rooms only. He recognized the architecture. He was not even in his four poster bed. This was more of a cot. Though it was much more comfortable than the one he had ever had in the orphanage. He was not wrapped in the usual school blankets. It was a silk duvet. Black and cream, not silver and green.

Why was he here? He carefully gave a side glance. His wand lay there. He grasped it and a warmth surged through him. But then his eyes went beyond the cot. There was another bed, a four poster one. He was in somebody else's room.

He slowly got up. He was still in his day clothes from yesterday. And then it came rushing back to him.

He had been trying permanent transfiguration. He had just been practicing the incantation and had just casually aimed at the wall. He did not think he would get it at first try. Transfiguring into mammals was quite more advanced, after all.

The spell had bounced back and he had been a cat. Then those hideous girls and thank heavens Cordelia had been there. He had never been happier to see her.

Looked like, she came through her promise. His wand was safe and he was back to normal.

Then he decided to look at the other bed.

He got up softly. Someone had removed his shoes.

He went a little nearer to the bed.

It was Cordelia, her long, dark hair sprawled on the pillow. She was covered in her duvet, a similar one as the one he had on him, till her neck.

She was sleeping peacefully.

He did not disturb her and then glanced around at the room.

She had not been idle and refurbished the room completely.

One wall was animated into a forest with animals and birds. The other had pictures, moving photographs.

Not the stiff portraits that purebloods had. Renatus had shown him a family portrait of his family.

Everybody in her pictures was candid.

She had one beaming with a blonde woman and a grey eyed Black haired man, probably her parents. There was one with Abraxas with their legs dipped in a lake. There was one with her group of Black cousins.

There was one with a small, black cousin, Cygnus, Lucretia and Walburga's brother, if he remembered correctly. There were others, with Blacks, Malfoys, one with Longbottoms'. There was one solo in front of a palace. That had to be Beauxabatons. There was another with one brunette girl and guy.

But then what surprised him were the one from Hogwarts.

There was one with the Slytherin Quidditch team. The green robes suited her. She sat in the center. She was beaming her angelic smile in each one of them. In some, she was laughing full blown. There were more with her cousins in hogwarts. There was one with Heir Potter and Dorea. And then his eyes fell on the last three. They were with him, One was both of them sitting and talking animatedly in Quidditch Stands, there was one in library, he was studying intently and she had her brow risen at him as Abraxas begged her not to antagonize him. He remembered that day, they had been discussing a potions theory.

And the last one was of that awful board game. He was startled to realize he was smiling in it. Whatever the ending had been like, he had enjoyed that trivia game, it had been exhilarating. It was a full blown view of the common room with the two teams and spectators in view. Abraxas and Herbert looked defeated and morose. Cordelia had her mischievous yet nonchalant spark in her eyes.

There was some tightening in his chest. He could not understand. He was feeling wonderful, he had never been so casually included in something. But this feeling in the chest was a bit perplexing.

He looked away from the pictures. She had covered her glass window that looked in the lake with a thick Mauve curtain. He did not blame her, it looked eerie if you got up in the middle of night.

Her desk was neat with quills and parchment. There were additions in the room.

There was a small bookshelf just over the desk with just one shelf.

They were fiction titles.

Her coursebooks were nowhere to be found.

With a start, he realized that he was not supposed to be here. This was the girls' dorm.

He quickly silently cast Tempus.

It was a little after 6 in the morning.

He had to leave, but he took a look at the pictures once again.

"I am sorry." He heard a soft, musical voice and almost jumped. He just turned around.

Cordelia was sitting up in her bed. Her hair was a bit messed and her eyes looked drowsy. She removed her duvet.

She was not wearing her short nightgown, thank morgana. It seemed to be a shirt.

He was confused by her apology.

"I should have asked you before putting them up. I did not think you would mind." She said slowly. He realized she was reffering to the pictures.

"They are good pictures." He muttered softly.

"Hmm," she nodded. She poured herself a glass of water from the pitcher from a sidetable. That was an addition too.

"Did you conjure the furniture here as well?" He quietly asked.

She looked amused, but she shook her head. She swallowed the water.

"Brought it shrunken from home. Mother would not let me go without it." She muttered.

She poured water into another glass, removed her duvet.

Riddle was thoroughly surprised. She was wearing Pajama bottoms with a shirt, silk but still pants. He had never seen women wear pants except for in Quidditch.

She got out and offered him the glass.

He drank it without ado.

And before he knew it, She threw a rapid fire of questions inquiring if he had feline like feelings or any other sensory issue or if his limbs were working fine. She looked a bit frantic.

He actually sputtered and she did not stop, paying it no mind.

He actually had to bodily put his arms on her shoulder firmly and say loudly, 'Cordelia, I am fine."

"Oh, you are fine." She did not look pleased to be interrupted, "Fine? You were a cat for some 7 hours. I had to do priori incantatem, but that just told me that you were attempting Human transfiguration. I had to browse three books and experiment on my pillow to detect the correct reversal spell. Two freaking hours. It took me two hours and you just slept and I was worried sick if it even worked properly or not. Forgive me..." the last was extremely sarcastic.

She did not look happy. Her cheeks were slightly red and her eyes blazed.

He did not remove his hands from her shoulders, "You are the best witch I know. How could you get it wrong?" He decided to try the flattering he used with Merrythought.

She narrowed her eyes and gave a fake smile, "Really, Tom. Flattering is the way you choose to calm me down." Her smile had vanished, instead she looked even more bristled. "You should be grateful that I am worried about your health or I would have hexed you."

Tom was about to remove his hands, when he remembered something, a vague memory from yesterday, he did not even think it through, he gently removed her shirt off from her right shoulder. Cordelia did not stop him even though she had frozen initially. He did not stop despite the realization that what he was doing was highly inappropriate.

There as clear as yesterday were four angry, red marks.

"I am sorry about these...I was a reckless at first and then a beast, I had no right to hurt you." He murmured apologetically. He actually looked horrified.

"You were scared, I understand. I am not mad." She murmured back.

"You did not heal it." Tom looked utterly confused.

Cordelia shrugged her shoulders, "Honestly, I forgot."

Tom murmured a spell and the marks vanished to reveal blemish-less, pale pinkish skin. He replaced her sleeve back.

"I am sorry!" He repeated again and he looked utterly sincere and before he knew he was wrapped in a hug.

"Stop apologizing. Sometimes we hurt people without meaning to, because we are in a bad place ourselves. It does not make us bad. I accepted your apology the first time. It was just a scratch." She muttered in his ear.

Riddle smiled slightly in her hair.

When he stepped back, he was greeted with one of her big smiles but then it turned apologetic

'Sorry about the sleeping arrangements. I was exhausted and the common room was full. I did not think that I could put you in your bed, even by using a disillusionment charm. And people would have asked questions if I went into your room when you were absent." She began speaking.

Tom placed a finger on her lips, "I understand."

"What is the time?" She murmured.

"It must be about 6:30 in morning if my estimates are correct." He said.

"Wait a minute, I will see if the coast is clear." Cordelia put on her dressing gown and went outside and came back a minute later.

"Empty." She said.

"I am not surprised. You are the only other early riser in the house beside me." Tom said.

She rolled her eyes. She said a little mischievously a little later, "I hope you like slides?"

Riddle gave her a confused look.

"Boys are not allowed in the Girls' dorms. The stairs turn into slides the moment a boy steps on them." She informed.

"Hogwarts: A History?" Tom said weakly.

"Oh, don't be so sad. Slides are fun." she said lightly.

Tom gave her a quelling look.

"Oh, very well. You are no fun. I could just use a hover charm on you and place you on your feet below the stairs." Cordelia said a little less enthusiastically.

"And you did not suggest that earlier, why?" Tom gave her a serious questioning look.

"Like I said, slides are fun." She shot back, picked up her wand, and marched out the front door.

After they were both safely in the common room.

"It is quite disconcerting, isn't it?" She muttered.

"Hovering in air, yes." Tom was panting.

"Alphard once tried to do it to himself, after the Christmas break of his first year. He fell down the in a heap. And then he had the nerve to get up, and do it to me. Thank goodness I am better at magic and he is scared of me. In fact, I remember hexing him for good." She remembered.

"He seems a bit…"

"He does not seem, he is an impulsive toddler." Cordelia said firmly. "If I weren't used to him, he would get hexed daily."

Tom gave out a big chuckle and she joined in.

"I am going to freshen up, I will be down in ten for breakfast." She said after they had calmed down.

"We will go together. I am starving." Tom intoned.

* * *

 **Phew. Responses to Reviews after the next week. Sorry.**

 **Please Review.**


	14. Chapter 9: Expecto Patronum

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) This is a gender bender. Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue** ** _"_**

* * *

 **Chapter 8: Expecto Patronum**

 **Tom's POV**

Cordelia was devouring scones and a palate of fruits while Tom had chosen to eat the sausages along with a cup of tea.

An owl swooped down and dropped a package.

"Finally," Cordelia muttered, wiped her hands and unwrapped it. There were leather bound books.

'Here," She offered him all but one, "Books on the lineage of Gaunts, the last eminent heirs of the line of Slytherin. Like I said previously, the history stops a couple of centuries ago. These are books from the Black Library. I would request you not to read them in front of Walburga. She will get antsy. In fact, I would appreciate if you could keep them under wraps from everybody for now." She said thoughtfully, "I mean no need to hide them or anything, just don't read them openly. These books are rare and pureblood families will do anything to get their hands on those copies."

"I will return them safely." Tom murmured.

"A fair bit of warning." She said a little carefully.

Tom gave her a questioning look. She said reluctantly, "Gaunts are considered less than stellar in today's pureblood society as well. If you ask me, then it was them who began the whole tirade against muggleborns and begun the propaganda that Slytherins are blood purists. They were fanatic to the core, only married other Gaunts, and were frivolous and big spenders, even more so today's pureblood flaunting habits. It was a good thing that Slytherin gold was out of reach to them. They dwindled the money that they had until they were paupers. They also refused to marry anybody but Gaunts, supposedly keeping the Slytherin blood pure in them. Hence, they were inbred, the family did not see new gold and spent more of it than they had and there ideals were not considered best for any sort of company. It is said that they also started disrespecting snakes. Needless to say that they lost credibility and since they never treated other houses with even basic courtesies, they were shunned. I confirmed my data, the last respectable Gaunt was Cornivus, and I use respectable loosely, meaning he had money and influence. I know he studied in Hogwarts in 1703 and was perhaps the last Gaunt to do so. I know that does not give you hope but I thought being upfront about it would be best. The title of a heir of Slytherin would garner you respect but Gaunts have had shady dealings with the wizarding world. I would not buy their version of Slytherin's legacy and I would not take the crass words of the authors of these books to heart." She looked sad.

Tom nodded, "I do not think I could deal with adults anyway. I have not liked to deal with them for as long as I remember. I like being responsible on my own. But I appreciate the books nonetheless. I am sure I will find something."

Cordelia nodded.

"Tom," She said softly a while later.

He looked up from the book and directed his gaze at her. He saw the reluctance and hesitance on her face.

"Do you hate muggles?" She asked a minute later.

"That is difficult to answer." He allowed.

"Do you hate muggleborns?"She questioned.

Tom took a breath, "This does not leave the two of us." He said seriously.

Before he could say anything, she had taken an oath.

He looked surprised but he schooled his features, "I do not hate them as some like Lestrange , and Carrow would like to believe. It is just easier to gain their acceptance that way. I do not think that we should change our ways completely to accommodate the muggleborns. The truth is that there is no viable way to integrate them in place right now. I looked for it, there used to be a wizarding culture class earlier but it was scraped. I only learned a bit of wizarding etiquette from observing others. The books in library do not help much. I also feel that there is a need of better communication and understanding of the two worlds. Purebloods do not help the situation by holding their nose high and uptight and without aiding the muggleborns in integration. As for your first question, yes, I dislike muggles. I also dislike wizards though not as much as I have begun to resent the muggles. I do not like _people_ much." He shook his head towards the end, lost in his thoughts.

"Then, I hope you will not be offended if I offer you this." She pulled the last book from her lap and handed it to him.

"It is a book on wizarding politics, and stances of different factions over the past century. It also alludes to several laws that came before it but it mostly deals with the views prevalent in the public. The book was written by a half blood in the recent past from a neutral family. I do not mean to be patronizing but this could help." She muttered, "I was not sure, because well the author is neutral and he is both dismissive of blood purisms and muggle loving factions. I was not sure which side of the scale you were on."

Tom felt up the cover of the book and nodded again.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

Another week passed, Halloween was just around the corner. People were looking forward to it, not just because of the feast but also because the day was also the first Hogsmeade weekend of the session.

Cordelia and Tom had settled into a routine. After resting for a bit after the classes, they both finished their homework of the day. They went to library and had formed a sort of inter house study group of sorts.

Abraxas, Orion, Dorea, Anastius, Alphard, Charles Potter, Cassius Zabini, Timothy Rowle, Sebastian Longbottom, Titania Shacklebolt, Herburt Burke, Mason Diggory was a mixture of years and houses.

A group of other students, only fourth years sat nearby. Mary Abbot, Aurora macmillan, Amara Tufts, Evelyn Adler.

Cordelia often went and sat with them for a while.  
Riddle noted that she was generally very quiet and got irritated if someone disturbed her peace. But she always answered questions. And she transformed into a chatterbox only around him. She also liked to speak to Abraxas, Burke and Charles Potter, but she mostly listened. And spoke only when she was helping out people.

They spent an hour or two in library, mostly answering questions that others had and researching.

They checked out books at that time too.

After dinner, they both huddled in the common room, in a corner, where people knew not to disturb them and planned.

They had both started to execute out the plans of an Animagus potion. It took 21 days to happen. Riddle was quite interested in knowing his form.

She had sent a letter to the Goblins as well.

And she had started making a list of all influential families and was currently compiling how their reactions to an Heir of Slytherin would be.

She had quite easily and honestly confirmed that her uncle, Orion's father, would not be pleased but he would try the best to use the situation. She was not sure about the stance of House Malfoy. She said her uncle doted on her and Abraxas and was very easy going. He even enjoyed pranks and got along well with Alphard on that matter. That told Tom a lot. He would do anything to protect his family but he will not choose the path for her or Abraxas and would likely aid them in whatever the duo wanted to do.

He was also surprised when she supported his decision to not involve any adult. She said that adults often think that kids have no idea of ongoing of world and would only inhibit their plans.

They both had started a common journal as well, one for spells that they both wanted to learn.

Cordelia had been insistent on him learning a Patronus. She suspected that Grindelwald won't be able to resist using dementors or lethifolds and even though the war had not reached British Isles yet, she said it was only a matter of time.

The first Quidditch match of the season was between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Cordelia attended it as she was part of the team and had to observe their plays though she sat with Dorea and Lucretia, rather than the team. Hogwarts still had no idea about Cordelia being a seeker and they were trying to keep it tight until the first match of Slytherin which was scheduled a week after Halloween.

Hufflepuff barely won. Ravenclaw and Gryfinddor apparently had the strongest teams in Hogwarts. Slytherin and Hufflepuff were not doing that great in the past few years, but Hufflepuff had a strong set of chasers this year. Ravenclaw got the snitch a little early. Their seeker was Cassius Zabini and he was a bit cocky, if Anastius had his say about his brother. As a result, Ravenclaw surprisingly lost. But it was good news for Slytherin. It made their way to the cup easier.

Tom had skipped the match and Cordelia had not even pestered him to attend it. He was reading up on the Gaunts and the more he read on, the less he was impressed. Snakes had been his only friends as kids and the fact that Gaunts had started misusing parseltongue and torturing the snakes did not settle down with him. Moreover, the idea that Gaunts also began the propaganda that smeared the image of Slytherin angered him. They had made life difficult for every single student that went to Slytherin.

Cordelia had also told him about her interest in warding and Healing and how she thought parseltongue could improve both fields by leaps and bounds. They had started some spellwork. Though, they refused to spar with each other just yet. They used target practice. Cordelia had asked her Uncle Arcturus to acquire some Auror level dummies that they could use to test out the spells. She was planning to smuggle them in Castle after Christmas. But his secret room had not been any cleaner. Benefits of living in a Wizarding world, you knew how it operated. Cordelia had snapped fingers and called a couple of elves and they had been happy to clear out the room for them. Both of them wanted a more secure location, but until they found any secret rooms it would have to do.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

Cordelia had decided that if all went well with Tom, she would reveal the Chamber of Secrets and the Room of Requirement before Christmas to Tom. She wanted to have a stronger bond with him before she exposed him to the Basilisk or gave him access to the room of hidden things.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

It was Halloween. They had a Hogsmeade weekend the same day. Cordelia had accompanied Tom for the first half. They had gone to Tomes and Scrolls and had browsed for the best part of the morning. The owner had a soft spot for Tom so she just let them sit and read. They went to Scrivenshafts's to buy a few quills, passed by Dominic Maestro's music shop and met the court at the three Broomsticks, the proprietor was expecting a baby and was excitedly telling everyone that she would name the girl Rosemerta. Cordelia had treated everyone and did not hear any protests. Halfway through, a few people from other houses had joined in and it was a merry lunch table.

After that, Tom and Cordelia split up, Tom went back to Tomes and Scrolls to finish the Gaunt book in peace. Cordelia had promised to help her cousins out with a few things so she attended to them.

Cordelia had spent the last hour sitting with Lucretia, trying to probe her about her relationship with Heir Prewett. She had not been happy with what she found out and now she was almost back at the castle. She felt that it was suddenly colder. She shivered and cast a warming charm on herself quickly, without a second thought as she mulled about the situation of Lucretia. It was not until she saw students coming running from Hogsmeade that she turned around and looked for the cause of commotion.

It was Abraxas, Alphard, Anastius and that Ravenclaw girl Evelyn Adler, running away from something in the Hogwarts ground.

"Dementors!" Abraxas panted and informed her.

Her entire stance changed, "Where is Tom, Abe? I thought you said you were going to drag him out of the shop!" She hurriedly spoke with a lot of worry.

"He was right behind me." Abraxas' expressions changed to worry too.

Cordelia did not wait for a moment, and stretched out her magic. All four of them gasped as they felt it when it passed through them and stretched beyond to the Hogsmeade road and the Hogwarts ground.

She did not wait for a word and ran towards the Hogwarts ground.

* * *

 **Evelyn's POV**

"Corrie, NO!" Abraxas screamed and followed her. The other two boys followed suit. Evelyn too followed. She wanted to help, Cordelia was always nice to her.

"Go back, this isn't safe." Cordelia snapped at them, glaring.

"I am not leaving you." Abraxas snapped firmly. Others nodded.

"Fine, be stubborn, but stay put here." She ran again. They still followed, but they were still some 20 steps behind her.

When they caught up, Cordelia had stopped in the middle of the clearing. They stopped right beside her.

Cordelia was staring intently at something and then they saw, hundreds of dementors moving in a circle around something or someone.

Cordelia didn't miss a beat, her face was a mixture of fury and worry and she took out her wand and yelled, "Expecto Patronum".

Eve was expecting a mild shield to pop up. Cordelia was 14, what else she could do, not a corporeal patronus.

She didn't expect six corporeal patroni. Two of them surrounded them, a doe and a stag.

Two begun to chase dementors away, a werewolf and a Grim.

The other, it was a giant snake, maybe basilisk, went and surrounded the figure in the center of dementors protectively.

Eve gasped .It was Tom Riddle, rendered unconscious. She saw his pale face and then her eyes went to the sixth patronus, a phoenix that hovered over Cordelia's shoulders. Cordelia did not stop there, she begun moving into the circle of dementors that the werewolf and grim were trying to break. The Dementors could not touch her.

She conjured a stretcher, levitated Tom on it, and it seemed like she cast a disillusionment charm on Tom and the stretcher.

The Basilisk begun attacking the dementors, completely breaking their tandem.

She turned around and walked back towards them. Evelyn assumed that the stretcher was hovering beside her. She didn't say a word and all of them were too shocked to voice it.

They walked towards the castle in silence, the phoenix had taken flight to fight and the doe and stag accompanied them, Cordelia's lips were pressed into a hard frown line and the rest of them too dazed.

She stopped before the gates as the patroni ebbed away and turned around to look at them, "I am sorry about this. I don't want to, but I have to. I can't let people see my power or his weakness." She raised her wand carelessly and muttered, "Obliviate."

"Tom is already back in the castle. I saw him leave for his alone time. He would be fine, we should get inside," She said this quickly, staring hard and meaningfully at Evelyn.

Evelyn gulped. She remembered everything and she did not think it was a coincidence. Cordelia wanted her to remember this.

Cordelia turned and left. Evelyn's eyes followed the stretcher.

She was suddenly very worried about Tom. He was just an orphan, a nice muggleborn. Even though Cordelia was a perfect angel, what if the pureblood witch did something to Tom, using his weakened state.

" _Oh Eve, think fast_." She thought to herself.

Something told her that it would do no good to tell a Professor. She didn't know when Tom would regain consciousness. From whatever she had read, he was going to take a while to recover. Especially when she considered the kind of childhood he would have had. She knew all about orphanages. Her father was a baron. Her mother had took her on a trip to London and she had visited one of them. Horrible conditions. It was a wonder that Tom was this nice. " _Oh! What should she do?"_

* * *

 **Evelyn's POV**

Whatever Evelyn was expecting it was not to see Tom at the dinner table about an hour later, sitting a bit subdued, but fine in the Halloween feast. Cordelia sat right next to him and she looked worried as she looked at Tom, but she was hiding it well. If Evelyn did not know what went down earlier, she would not have figured it out.

Her fear dissipated a bit.

She had dinner quietly, occasionally glancing down at Slytherin. One time her eye met with Cordelia and she froze. Cordelia just gave her a small, tired smile.

It still left Evelyn disconcerted.

What startled her more was when Cordelia came to her as she was leaving Great hall, "Can I have a minute?"

Evelyn was scared but she nodded anyway.

Cordelia led her to a quieter alcove with no portraits.

"Thank you for giving Tom and me the benefit of doubt. I know you have more questions than I can give you answers but Tom would not have appreciated if..."She trailed off. "He is doing fine. He knows you know. I told him I think you have a good head and I trust you. You can talk to him yourself if you want to. I would suggest, not tonight, he is bit worn out. But he is fine and I have no intention of hurting him. I just…I just was really worried about him and he would not have taken well to being dragged in the infirmary." Cordelia said and she sounded sincere.

"Why did you just not obliviate me?" Evelyn blurted out.

"I don't regret it. Not doing it, I mean. I trust you, like I said. I needed somebody as a contingency in case something went wrong and I needed help. You were the only one out of the four..." Cordelia paused and completed reluctantly, "You were the only one out of the four that I could trust would put Tom before me."

Evelyn let out a sigh. " _She sounds sincere and there is nothing in her past dealings with everyone that should make me doubt it. If I think that she is going to use Tom, just because she is a pureblood or a Black, then I was as bigoted as that dickhead Lestrange_."

Evelyn finally nodded, "Tell him to get well soon."

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

It may have seemed like an hour to Evelyn but Cordelia had been up taking care of Tom for about 18 hours in the Room of Requirement. She had deemed the situation an emergency and had decided to reveal the timeturner and the room of requirement to Tom on the roll.

She glanced at him across the common room. He still looked a bit pale. But he looked a lot better than he had just after she had brought him to the room.

* * *

 **Flashback: Cordelia's POV**

The room knew her needs. It had turned into a comfortable bedroom in Slytherin colors. Cordelia was carrying everything else in her pocket.

She pulled out her second trunk out of her pocket, unshrunk it and dived inside. She got up chocolate, lots of it and all the potions she needed.

Potions were not going to be of much help but she had to try it all.

She placed Tom on the bed and covered him in the blankets. She had to keep him as warm as possible. Dementors had not sucked his soul but he still looked as pale as death. She had seen plenty of people die in the war to be able to compare.

If everything remained good, Tom was just living his worst memories over and over again and not turning insane by them.

She remembered Lily potter's screams so vividly despite the ritual. " _Now is not the time Cordelia."_ She yelled at herself in the mind _, "He needs you right now."_

She kicked of her robes and shoes and joined Tom on bed in her skirt and cardigan. She rubbed his palms and she took off his socks and rub his soles.

She casted warming charms and finally when nothing worked, decided to adopt muggle methods and inject Tom with a pepper-up potion combined with an ennervate.

Tom woke up gasping for breath, his eyes filled with terror, he sat up and before he knew he was engulfed in a warm hug.

Cordelia buried her head is his shoulders, sitting on his one side, her fingers knotted in his hair and one pressed in the small of his back, "You are fine, I am here."She kept muttering into his ears until he calmed down. She did not stop when she felt hot tears on her shoulders. She did not stop when Tom grabbed her and buried his head in her hair. She did not stop when his hands tightened around her as if he was afraid that she was not real. Hours passed.

* * *

 **Hello Everyone, here is an early update because it is my birthday and I am feeling generous. I am also feeling ecstatic that we crossed a 400 follower mark yesterday. I might update tomorrow as well, I have frankly not decided yet. I am feeling I shouldn't because this is such a well done cliffie and waiting might do all of you some good, but I am also feeling like sparing you guys the wait. So, I don't know. I guess you will know tomorrow.**

 **I shall get back to all your pending wonderful reviews tomorrow. Please keep giving them. And yes, if you have constructive feedback or information about my typos, please duly get in touch with me. I am nice about it :P. Thanks. And yes, read and review.**

 **Also, this is the first time I have tried another POV apart from Tom and Corrie. So let me know what you think? Just a hint, Eve will become a major character much later.**

 **I hope you enjoyed.**


	15. Chapter 9: The Time Turner

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) This is a gender bender. Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue** ** _"_**

* * *

 ** _Previously…_**

 _Cordelia buried her head is his shoulders, sitting on his one side, her fingers knotted in his hair and one pressed in the small of his back, "You are fine, I am here." She kept muttering into his ears until he calmed down. She did not stop when she felt hot tears on her shoulders. She did not stop when Tom grabbed her and buried his head in her hair. She did not stop when his hands tightened around her as if he was afraid that she was not real. Hours passed.  
_

* * *

 **Chapter 9: The Time Turner**

 **Tom's POV**

"Dementors are the worst creations of magic. They are cursed and they are horrible and to be able to withstand the attack of so many…" She trailed off.

Then, there was utter silence and all he could hear was their breaths and heartbeats against each other.

They did not move away from each other. There was silence for another few minutes.

Cordelia did not urge him to talk, she just pulled the chocolate near, tore a small bite and placed it near his lips. He took a hesitant bite but felt warmth surging through him. He looked into her eyes, their foreheads were an inch apart, and he grimaced and rested his on hers. Tom hated being touched, but somehow with Cordelia, it just came to him naturally.

"I did not think I would ever be that miserable." He said slowly, looking up. She did not do anything, not a tightening of arms, nothing, but looked at his face with a composed look.

"I have been miserable, more than I can remember, more than I want to remember, in that hellhole. It was…" He stopped for the lack of a word, "They say dementors make you feel as if you will never be happy. I never thought I would be happy. I hoped but I am a realist, I know certain things, I stopped believing in the just world a long time ago… I.."

Cordelia stayed silent, her grip firm, but she looked him in the eye. Tom swallowed. He did not speak anymore. It was then that Cordelia broke the silence, "There are places darker than one can imagine and dementors make you live them. It might be in your head but it is more real than things you see and know to be real. They drew to you because your life has scars. Dementors suck on them. It just means you have seen more of dark than most people do at a tender age. It might make you feel weak but it is also your biggest strength that you have seen so much and lived. Don't take me wrong. It does not excuse what happened to you and with you. It should not have. Children should never have to see things that aren't ..."She paused, perused her lips, "Children need not be brought up inside a bubble, that is dangerous, but if you expose them to the darkness of world before they can understand things, it's not right, it's not fair. Now people might say that be a man, life isn't fair. But that doesn't excuse it. You went through something and nobody has a right to undermine that, not even you. Life may not have to be fair, but you have every right to grieve or complain about when it was not fair to you. You may not want to and that's alright, it's your grief, and and it's your right to deal with it the way you want. But know this, you might think that I don't understand, but I do, maybe not the way you may want me to, but I understand and I promise you, you are not going back there. We are going to get your inheritance, we are going to do every goddamn thing we have to do to make sure that you don't have to go there. You don't have to talk. I will not ask you to. But I will be there, by my life, I will be there for you, whether you need me or not. I might be a cunning pureblood that you might not want to trust but know this, I can make the world cry for people that I care about. And I care about you, you may not like that too, but you will just have to deal with it. " She said slowly, her voice strong and tears sprung from her eyes by the end of it. She hastily wiped them away and gave Tom a weak smile, her eyes still glistening. "Eat more chocolate, and take some Dreamless sleep potion. You need rest. We will think about dealing with the school later."

"Where are we?" Tom asked quietly.

"They call it the room of hidden things. I did not want to take you to infirmary. Too many questions and I don't trust the rest of Slytherins just yet. So, the dorm was out too. I asked elves for help. They told me about this. It is also called the Room of requirement, quite a nifty enchantment, it becomes whatever you need. We can use it for our plans but that's for later. You need rest, you are exhausted and emotionally drained." She said softly, disengaging her arms from his torso and head and pulling the chocolate bar.

"What happened?" Tom asked, not commenting on her speech at all.

Cordelia had a very patient bone in her, she offered him the chocolate which Tom took without further ado.

"I was walking back. . ." She told him the entire story, including the part where she let Evelyn keep her memory. Something told her that the Ravenclaw was loyal to Tom.

"You fought dementors!" Tom's voice was subdued. He was though nibbling through the chocolate.

"Kept them at bay is more like it." She shrugged. Making it sound low key, "I am good at the charm. Anybody is, once they get the hang of it and I made it a priority long ago."

"You used an injection?" Tom's voice was slightly doubtful.

"Hey, I learned it properly in a French hospital, okay. I did not do it without knowing what I was doing." Cordelia seemed slightly offended.

"I didn't mean to insinuate..."Tom's voice cracked, and he looked worried, he didn't have words but Cordelia's finger found his lips anyway. She pressed her lips gently and firmly to his cheek, "Jeez, I was ...I did not mean it Tom, I was joking but now is probably not a good time. It is your right to know how I healed you and if I did it right."

Tom just looked at her.

"I did something wrong..." She trailed off, "Look I am honestly very bad when I am emotional, so you will have to forgive me for being so forward and I will try not to..."

"What are you talking about?" Tom said slowly. He looked very sleepy.

"Aren't you mad?" She asked.

"I am, but not at you. You…" He began.. "I can't…" He paused again. He sniffled and then looked at her, "I don't know what I did to endear myself to you…I probably didn't do anything, you are just this nice..." He trailed off. "Thank you." He said a while later.

She didn't say anything, just kissed him on his forehead and smiled like an imp. She gave him the bottle for the Dreamless sleep and patted her lap, " Use me as a pillow in case this doesn't give you much relief."

Tom had finished the potion in one swig without protest and slumped against her lap without much thought. He slept for 10 hours. Cordelia had herself curled up after watching over him for six-seven hours. She woke up as the Sunday night was about to begin and She felt herself wrapped around Tom as he was wrapped around her but he was starting to get restless.

It took a while before he woke up completely. Cordelia had run quick diagnostic charms on him to make sure his system was fine.

She had pulled out a food basket out of her trunk. Tom had really looked intrigued at the undetectable extension charm at it and the compartments. She had given him a quick tour of the apartment inside it just to keep his thoughts distracted from his misery.

She told him about the French store that did it and how they won't have too much time in the winter with everything else lined up, they could probably owl order him one.

They had sat quietly at the two chair dining table inside it and quietly ate the muffins.

Cordelia had brought up how Dumbledore would be very suspicious by their absence in the Halloween dinner.

"Old coot." Tom had muttered.

"I have a solution." She had placed, serving more tarts on his plate.

"How can we possibly go back in time again?" Tom had asked.

"You have the solution. We go back in time. I would not have thought of that so immediately." She said, pausing to swallow her French macaroon.

"What? Wait! Are you saying we can go back in time," Tom had looked incredulous, "That is highly convenient?"

"Much of my life as Cordelia has been, credit goes to the Blacks." She had said, dabbing her lips with a napkin, "But that is beside the point. This summer I convinced my Uncle to let me visit the ministry. Since my father has contacts in Department of Mysteries courtesy to his occupation, he got a tour for us. Now, the Department of mysteries is a funky place. They have got a whole room dedicated to study Time and its reversal effects and I had heard from very hushed and unreliable sources that they had a breakthrough recently. They managed to make a device that can reverse time. They are calling it Time Turners. Now, they were mass producing it when I went there, there were 13 pieces. But coincidentally, there was a fire in the department that day and when they were confused, I sneaked one in my pocket." She perused her lips, " Nobody knows about it. My dad was cursing the person into next week in his last letter. I can very possibly land in Azkaban for this or worse, take my family with me so we will have to be very careful, but yes, basically, we can go back in time." She looked at him and shrugged, then moved to puring herself a glass of water.

"You stole from the Ministry." Tom repeated, inclining his head like he could not believe it.

"I did, don't make me feel bad. They were going to store it as a trophy. Its better off with me. I was only interested in learning how to reverse engineer it but I used it once and it works. The only rule is we can't be seen twice. I mean there can't be twins of us roaming around outside where everybody can see and we can't see each other, I mean our past selfs as well. I first thought of going back in time and preventing the dementor attack entirely but it had too many risks. We can go back to 6 yesterday evening. It can go back up to 24 hours. If I recall correctly, I was still at the castle doors then. We will have to use disillusion charms and everything and get out of the room, as soon as I enter this room which was around 6:30, then we are game. We can basically go back to the common room since that is what everybody expects us to do and then we can attend the feast as usual."

"You stole from the ministry." Tom repeated in disbelief.

"Okay, continue making me feel guilty." Cordelia said with a fake smile.

Tom let out a light laugh at that.

"Nobody knows." He asked.

" I quite like myself out of the prison. I would prefer to keep it that way." She shrugged, "So.."

* * *

 **END OF Flashback**

 **Cordelia's POV**

And here they were, sitting a few feet from each other after the feast.

Tom was still a bit pale, being in a crowd had put him in edge and he was still losing his energy fast.

She had to intervene. She gathered her book, went across where Renatus was droning about something to Tom. Today, Tom was not even pretending to listen today but apparently Lestrange was really naive.

She plopped herself on the arm of the couch Tom was sprawled in. Tom looked so relieved that she almost laughed out loud.

"Ms. Black , I believe I was having a conversation with Heir Slytherin, It is not only rude, but.." Lestrange began in his pompous drawl.

"Politics can wait, our advanced arithmancy work, I am afraid not. At the risk of sounding a bit impolite, I will have to ask you to excuse us." She posed a fake smile.

"Of yeah, did a find a solution to that advanced problem Professor gave us yesterday. I think I have halfway through it." Tom played right along, completely ignoring Renatus for the moment.

"Oh no, I am at step 10 but I stopped trusting it after 5 so I am not sure, Can you take a look?" She pushed a scroll in his hand.

"Renatus, I really need to look at this. We will continue the conversation sometime later." Tom asked with a little doubt.

"Ah yeah sure." Renatus did not look happy. He left.

Tom made space for her on the couch and she sunk deeper in the cushions.

"What exactly has him so pissed off at you?" Tom asked after they were done with their silent mirth, "Thank you, by the way."

"Don't mention it. The conversation looked dull and beside any excuse to piss off Lestrange is game for me." She said, smiling at him, "And to answer your question, I am not sure. I think he liked me 'romantically' when we were kids, I was pretty, usually quiet, I think that he took that for subservience like people do to Lucretia, but I showed him up badly in this thing. In one of the society galas, he hit Abraxas and tried to pin it on Alphard. I was pissed, I was young, I first yelled the hell out, getting every adult's attention and outsmarting him verbally and when he would not stop his stupidity, I performed an extremely strong bout of 'accidental' magic, throwing him off his ass right across the room. He has never liked me since. Guess he did not appreciate my wit or power." She perused his lips, her eyes falling on Alphard and Anastius and smiling fondly, then looking at Tom.

"I thought you did not know what did it." Tom was smiling ear to ear.

Cordelia let out a musical laughter, then smiled the same fond smile at him, "That's just a figure of speech Tom," hitting him lightly at the knee.

Tom didn't react, he had a faraway look on his face but a slight smile.

Cordelia lightly punched him on his shoulder, 'What?"

"No, I am just imagining a little you, all angry, throwing somebody across room, with red cheeks in a little dress, trying to look intimidating but failing because of how utterly cute it would be." Tom cheekily said.

"I did not know cute was in your vocabulary. I thought you hated mush." She looked at him like he had grown another head.

"I don't hate it. It just doesn't come ...naturally." His expressions darkened.

"That was callous of me. I am sorry." She looked down with a little shame.

"Don't worry about it. It is not your fault." He gave a slight, weary smile, then glanced at the clock, "I should turn in, I don't know why I am still feeling knackered."

"It is going to take a bit before you are back to your full strength. You used a lot of pure magic to keep the dementors away. I would give you more dreamless sleep but I don't want it to stop working entirely on you…" She trailed off, looking a bit guilty.

Tom grabbed her hand, "Hey! You did everything."

Cordelia just nodded and smiled, her face etched with uncertainty and worry.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

 _The Priest was chanting, Tom's hands were tied to the bed as the matron and two older kids from orphanage hovered over him, trying to exorcise the devil in him. The candle lights, the pain, the blood pouring out from nails in his wrists, as his screamed in the gag tied around his mouth._

Tom woke up with a start, panting, sweating. It took him a while to calm down. He drank water in gulps and lay down again, not willing, not daring to close his eyes, lest he had nightmares go again.

His head was burning. His eyes were too.

He heard the door opening, slowly. He sat immobile, his wand ready, It was Cordelia. He closed his eyes. He did not want her to see him this weak anymore and pretended to be asleep, releasing the hold of the wand.

He felt her cross the room, touch his forehead gently, her hand was warm. He felt that her brows furrowed. She stepped away for a little while. He felt a damp cloth on his forehead. It soothed the burn a little. He kept his eyes closed and then he felt a weight by his side on the bed and gently his head was lifted and placed into what he remembered as Cordelia's lap, her hands were in his hair, gently massaging his scalp.

He relaxed, unknowingly, unwittingly.

The next thing he knew was when he woke up the Monday morning. Cordelia was nowhere to be, but he had slept better than he almost ever did. Maybe it was a dream.

He found out that he was wrong when he felt her creep up in his room every night for the next 5 days and do the same. He didn't let her realize that he was up but he had a feeling that she already knew and was just giving him his space.

It was the sixth day when he found her sleeping, snoring slightly on the library book on a recluse table behind shelves in library that he got worried but he did not know how to quite voice his concern. He choked every time he tried to articulate what her care was doing to him. He did not quite understand what was going on for him.

He decided quite firmly during dinner that he would have to talk to her. She looked dead on her feet. The game was tomorrow morning. The training had stepped up this week, but she had still made time to sit with him individually, sit in the court meetings, they were closing in on the Binns issue and she had not missed a single class. She needed to sleep or else she was going to fall off her broom.

* * *

That night when Cordelia pulled his head on her lap and placed her hand on his forehead, he gently grabbed it and opened his eyes wide.

She didn't say anything, she was not startled but she was a bit surprised.

"You can't keep doing this!" Tom spoke softly.

"I …"She began, but Tom quickly got up, threw a silencing and locking spell on the door.

"I locked it with parseltongue."She muttered quietly.

Tom did not pay mind to it, "How many glamours are you wearing Cordelia?" He asked quietly.

She appeared confused.

"You are dead on your feet, you slept in the library. How many days are you going to go without sleep watching over me? " Tom said, his tone slightly angry.

"I don't sleep well sitting but I can manage, I..." She began.

"So you have not been sleeping at all… Cordelia, the quidditch match is tomorrow. I appreciate your concern for me…" Tom begun speaking heatedly.

"It will be fine, I am used to running on low sleep. We won't lose." Cordelia said slightly sharply.

"I don't care if we lose. What will happen if you are up there, flying on the broom and you experience fatigue? What if you drop down Cordelia?" Tom replied back passionately.

Cordelia looked stumped. Tom continued his ire, "I don't care about Quidditch. Never have. Yes, we need to win for the House cup but that does not matter if you are dying out on the field. You are sleeping tonight or I will ban you from stepping on the field tomorrow."

"Relax" Cordelia placed a hand on his chest.

"No, I am not. I didn't say anything in all the previous days because I didn't realize that you were not sleeping at all!" He threw a glamor canceling spell at her. There were bags under her eyes, her face was paler.

Tom's brows furrowed more, "What have you been doing yourself?" He lightly touched her face with both his hands, pushing her curls behind her ears.

"I…I was worried. I knew you were not sleeping well and the dementors worsened it. I had to do something." She said lightly, her shoulders sagging, her tired eyes widening.

"I appreciate it, I do. I don't think…..it doesn't matter. You can't keep doing this." He shook his head.

"I damn well can." Cordelia's jaw was set stubbornly.

"I am not asking you to stop." Tom said patiently, "I am just saying that we need to look at a more feasible solution where you are not killing yourself, trying to save me." His jaw was set as stubbornly as hers.

Her shoulders sagged in slight defeat.

"We are working out a schedule. That we will do later, you are tired and you are sleeping tonight. I am not wasting more time talking or sending you back to the girls' dorm. Sleep." Tom commanded.

Cordelia could not resist, she started laughing at his stubborn demand.

"I am serious." Tom said in a little irritated tone.

"That's my great Uncle actually." She beamed back cheekily.

Tom began, but before that Cordelia mussed up his pillow, took his blanket and sunk into the bed, "Happy."

"Very!" Tom said sarcastically, "I am going to read. Good Night," He added softly.

* * *

Tom had slumped on his desk by morning. He woke up as sun rose and the light distinctly reflected back from the window glass under the lake. He groggily opened his eyes, Cordelia was sprawled on his bed, breathing softly.

"Cordelia…" He softly murmured, "Wake up, you have the match in a couple of hours. You need to eat breakfast and..."

Cordelia mumbled something incoherent, squeezing herself into a fetal position and burying down further in the blanket.

Tom could not keep a chuckle inside. She looked adorable.

She made an irritated sound from the back of her throat.

Tom touched her hand and she woke up faster than lightning, her wand pointed at him, kneeling on his bed. Her eyes were wide, her long hair were completely tangled and she was in a pajama and a long half sleeved silk shirt. She looked haggard but still managed to look dangerous.

"Err…"Tom opened his mouth.

"Oh My Morgana, I am sorry Tom, I am very easily startled when I am sleeping uninhibited like this." She put down her wand, looking slightly dazed. Tom reckoned that was probably because she was still sleepy.

"That's okay. You need to sneak out or you will be late." Tom informed.

She just nodded, releasing her tight hold on the bedcover and getting out of the bed. She had a match to play and win.

* * *

 **As promised, here is the next chapter! The next update will on 26** **th** **. It will have the Quidditch match, which I believe some of you were waiting for. Thank you for all the reviews, follows and favorites.**

 **To the guest reviewers of yesterday, thank you for the wishes and the praise. It helps me write better.**

 **To Kassie Jean: I would have responded normally but you have your PM disabled. I understand that. I am not sure how to respond to your reviews. Cordelia is cut off from the rest of the world with no support system. If you would have read my comments below the chapter/interlude, you would have known that she only made the journey herself because she was a child of magic and could take the strain. Siddharth likely cannot. I am not giving more on this because it will give spoilers to a possible future arc of the story. I am also a bit confused about why you would want her to be all alone. She is alone, yes, but if there is a possibility of hope that she could see her loved ones again, why is that so bad? Just because she is here to save Tom and the world, does not mean that she has to give up everything. She might have to, but she is not bound to it. I guess it is my way for giving her a way out, away from Tom. What I meant to show was that despite the out, she would always choose Tom, because that is who she is, a self-sacrificing women, molded that way by her circumstance. Also, the interludes are an integral part of the story, and are not separate from it. Cordelia had and has an identity beyond Tom. She always will. Just because she loves him, does not mean otherwise. As for her locking away her emotions, she is focusing on Tom. What I meant to show was a literal version of shutting off your emotions when you mean to reach your goal. It never works. It probably will not work in her case as well, I say that in advance, she is going to break down before she intends to. But that does not mean that she would not try it. That is how real people work. Most real people cannot take all the shit in the world and do some good. I am just trying to show that a woman is allowed to be imperfect and still be likeable. I hope that answers your comments.**

 **To Guest reviewer of previous week and for everyone concerned about the cat, Tom is imperfect too. Just a lighthearted way to show it. Also, a disclaimer, the idea comes from a slash Tom/Harry Time travel fic, whose name I cannot recall. I tried searching but could not find it. If anybody knows, please let me know. I will add the credits.**

 **To Blerb, thank you. I am trying to make it detailed while keeping a natural pace. I am not sure if it was working but your review helps.**

 **And PLEASE READ AND REVIEW**


	16. Chapter 10: The Seeker and Mind Arts

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) This is a gender bender. Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue** ** _"_**

* * *

 ** _Previously…_**

 ** _"_** ** _That's okay. You need to sneak out or you will be late." Tom informed._**

 _ **She just nodded, releasing her tight hold on the bedcover and getting out of the bed. She had a match to play and win.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 10: The Seeker and Mind Arts  
**

 **Tom's POV**

It was one and half an hour later that Tom was sitting in the Quidditch stand along with Dorea, Lucretia, Walburga a few members of the court waiting for the game to begin.

The match was against Gryffindor. Tom had met Charles Potter, a chaser for the Gryffindor right alongside Dorea. They both had wished him luck despite the house rivalry. Though Charlie did ask Dorea about where Cordelia was. Tom had replied that she won't be sitting in the stands for she was detained elsewhere.

The entire school had no idea. Cordelia was with the rest of the Slytherin team in the changing rooms.

Cordelia had rushed to her room in the morning and both of them had walked down to breakfast in casual robes. The newspapers were filled with outrage on last week's dementor attack on Hogwarts. There were talks about strengthening the Hogwarts wards. Cordelia had barely contributed to the conversation, she had eaten a couple of sausages and gulped it down with Pumpkin juice and ran away. She left a good 15 minutes before the team left, maintaining the facade.

His sly, little Slytherin.

The commentator had begun announcing, "The second match of the Inter-house Quidditch cup is underway with Gryffindor versus Slytherin."

There was a loud roar in the audience. The rivalry, albeit still friendly and harmless went into a full drive mode when the two houses went down in the Quidditch pitch.

Tom grinned. He had never take much pleasure in the sport but he could not control his anticipation for today. He just wanted to see the face of the prim and proper Gryffindor captain McGonagall and Charles Potter's face, as for the rest of the school, especially Dumbledore.

He was not even sitting. He and Dorea were standing right in the middle of the absolute front of the stand.

Dorea wanted to see Charles' face as well.

They were arguing friendly about who would have the most ridiculous reaction.

She had bet on Dumbledore and he had bet on Charles, but then they both had exclaimed that they did not really care as long as the reactions were amusing. Cordelia had bet the funniest reaction to Sebastian. Tom mentioned that and Dorea had let out a delighted laugh.

"The Team of Gryffindor entering from the right flank, with Captain and chaser McGonagall, Chasers Potter and Longbottom , with Keeper Longbottom, Seeker Fawley and Beaters Weasley and Prewett. Easily one of the strongest teams at Hogwarts." The Commentator was a rule stickling Hufflepuff who was keeping it to minimal.

"Slytherins entering from the left flank though they seem a member short. Hogwarts has been long wondering who is going to be the Slytherin seeker since Burke has taken up the role of the third chaser. We have Captain and Keeper Flint, Beater Black, Chaser Malfoy and Black, Beater Zabini and Chaser Burke from left to right. Quite an unusual arrangement."

Tom smirked, his hands wanting to clap in his exhilaration. The tempo build and build, and then Abraxas and Orion parted and out came the seventh member, an innocently smiling Cordelia clad in a Slytherin green robe and white pants with a sleek black Silverarrow in her arms.

The stadium just burst. There was chatter everywhere, loud yelling and general conundrum.

Sebastian and Charles had dropped their jaws and they were complaining with a sputter. McGonagall, the only female in the Gryffindor team had narrowed her eyes. The girl was too competitive and if Tom's binoculars were right, Dumbledore's twinkle had died down considerably. Slughorn was nudging the bearded Professor bashfully with a loud laugh. Tom was smiling so much that he felt his cheeks would burst.

The Commenter drowned the chatter with his loud monotone, "And it seems that Ms. Black, Slytherin transfer from Beauxabatons will be joining the team as the seeker which is a new for Slytherin. They have been an all-male team since forever."

No shit, Sherlock, she was. Tom rubbed his hands in anticipation. Not even a whining Renatus could kill his fun because Tom had gotten annoyed by his first five sentences and send a silencio at him.

Sir Murphy also looked a bit shocked but he quickly called the game in order.

"Alright, the game begins, Slytherin in Possession, Malfoy, Black, Burke, Black and they score."

The Slytherins roared.

Cordelia was keeping a low profile for the first five minutes of the game, quietly hovering.

"Slytherin 60 Gryffinor 50. Gryffindor in possession. And Seeker Black breaks their formation" The commentator sounded confused, "and hits the ball with the tail of her broom. Slytherin in Possession, Malfoy, Black, Burke, Female Black and Burke and Slytherin scores."

She continued that for the next 5 minutes, working with the chasers efficiently and then she went into a dive as if she had spotted the snitch.

"It seems Seeker Black has spotted the snitch, Fawley follows." The commentator began, "It looks like they are going to crash, but Black pulls up. The Slytherin seeker Black just pulled a very successful Wronksi feint in her first match. Fawley crashes."

Yep, that was one monotonous way to comment about a move that came with great difficulty to players in the world league though to be fair, the commentator did sound a little shocked.

Slytherin roared again. Cordelia smiled a cheeky smile towards Sebastian and Charles who looked confused and then she flew back to the Slytherin goalpost.

The competition was neck to neck. Slytherin was still faring better. The Gryffindor team were too shocked and dazed and were being sloppy but they were getting back in rhythm.

After some time, Tom saw Cordelia fly high and high.

"What is she doing?" Dorea asked with a little worry.

Tom was not that worried but his nerves were beginning to tingle too.

And then she dived straight towards the Gryffindor stands, Fawley who was back on field after getting his arm reattached still looked out of it and before anyone knew, Cordelia literally scampered a couple of second year Gryffindor boys when she literally caught the snitch from behind them.

"It seems like Seeker Black spotted the snitch in the Gryffidor stands. Quite an unusual strategy. 350 to 160. Slytherin wins." The Hufflepuff finally lost the monotone and said in a surprised whisper.

The stadium burst even loudly. Tom was laughing right alongside Dorea, who had turned to hug Lucretia and glare at Walburga who looked a bit shocked and Renatus, who was giving everyone an ugly look. Tom was smiling, Cordelia showed the snitch by raising her right arm but before Abraxas, Orion or Alphard could reach her, she flew straight towards the Slytherin stands and before Tom realized what was happening, he found himself crushed in two feminine arms as Cordelia wrapped herself around her with a delighted laugh. He buried his head back in hair with an equally delighted laugh, wrapping his arms around her and gently pulling her off her broom which Abraxas grabbed as he hugged them from behind and soon the entire Slytherin team surrounded Tom and Cordelia in a group hug. Slytherin was hoarse from giving out happy yells and the rest of the stadium was silent at looking at the laughing and happy Slytherin. They usually never let their masks down.

Cordelia was passed around in individual hugs to all the them and then to Dorea and Lucretia . She even tightly wrapped herself around Walburga who looked reluctant but returned the hug.

Cordelia then grabbed her broom and flew towards the Gryffindor team, and hugged Ian from behind, muttering an apology for the shock and a congratulating on a good game.

Sebastian turned around with a weak smile but he quickly let out a laugh at her excitement and removed her from the ground like he usually did and mussed up her hair to which she wrinkled her nose.

She proceeded to hug the life out of Charles as well and shook hands with the rest of the Gryffindor team. The Slytherin team followed Cordelia down to grounds and shook hands. Flint and McGonagall did it reluctantly but the rest of them were soon laughing together.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

The party in Slytherin was in full swing, Cordelia had sent home an owl to ask for food in advance, roped in Abraxas to sneak off food from the elves. Since they had went to Hogsmeade a week ago, there was a lot of food.

Tom was, for the first time, actively participating in the festivities and enjoying it. He usually participated out of a sense of duty.

Cordelia was lounged by his side, nibbling on a Treacle tart. She really loved them, her smile had not died since the evening.

"We are getting low on butterbear." Abraxas said loudly over the noise as he slunk across them.

"Who fancies a midnight adventure?" Cordelia had a mischievous look on her face.

"I am game." Anastius shouted, as he came from their side.

Abraxas shrugged.

"Let's get some butterbear then." She gave Tom a look that said 'Don't worry' and crossed the entire crowd of people with the two teammates to the entrance gate, but he still followed. He could use some quiet.

She gave Tom a look but didn't say anything.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

She quickly cast disillusionment on Anastius and Abraxas as Tom applied it on her and him.

"Where are we going?" It was Zabini who asked.

"Hogsmeade." Cordelia said.

"The gates of Hogwarts get closed." Abraxas asked question.

"We are not using the gates." Cordelia said a little pointedly.

"How are we going then?" Anastius asked.

"Don't tell me you guys have been in Hogwarts for four and three years respectively and have not found a way outside Hogwarts?" Cordelia asked rhetorically.

"Err..." Abraxas stared at her.

"Thought so." She piped immediately. "You guys are so dull, thank God I have Tom to keep me company." She gave the duo an unimpressed look and then looked straight ahead to the stairs "We are using a secret passageway that opens right into Honeyduke cellar."

"Under that hag?" Tom questioned. She had told him about it on Wednesday in passing.

Cordelia nodded absent-mindedly.

"Come on." Tom said as he matched steps with Cordelia.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

"I can't believe the fact that, this man will not report us to Dumbledore. What is his name?" Abraxas asked as they came out of Hogshead.

"Aberforth and no, he won't. Because he hates Albus Dumbledore." Cordelia said.

"How do you know?" Anastius Zabini.

"Anastius, have you ever met my Aunt Cassiopeia?" Cordelia asked rhetorically.

"That explains it." Abraxas nodded immediately, "She has dirt on everyone."

Tom looked doubtful

"No, Abaraxas and I mean it quite literally. She has this set of diaries and everything. I wished Burga was half as resourceful as her." Cordelia told Tom, who chuckled.

Cordelia quickly shrunk the bottle crates, "I am taking a walk by the village boundary. You guys go ahead. I could use some quiet."

"Not alone, no" Abraxas shook his head immediately.

"I will stay with her. I am not that fond of parties and I think I have had my share for today unless you mind Cordelia." Tom offered promptly.

"Nope, stay." She smiled as she sat down on a bench, "You both remember the way, don't you?"

Both of them nodded and stashed the pockets with the shrunken crates and left.

Tom came and sat down beside her on the bench, "You were great out there today. I think you made me glimpse the Slytherin that I had always wanted."

She let out a light laugh, "I was just being my cheeky self. It has always helped me take the men of my house a notch down on the grim scale so I assumed it would work here too. Thank you, for your faith, it would not have mattered if you did not actively put me up for the team. Flint would have all been for it and then would have just let me go because it was against tradition. And thank you for last night, I think I needed that speech."

She thanked him with such an ease, as she looked at him. Her pale complexion standing out to her shiny black hair of which the full moon reflected back, her green eyes shining.

"I only did what…a friend would do. I daresay it is very less in comparison to what you have been doing for me." Tom said a little hesitantly.

"It might take less effort on your part, but I 'daresay' it means a lot that you don't treat me like a trophy that most people do, even my family, at times." She said slowly, looking at him. They remained silent for a bit.

"I guess both of us are just too fucked up." She said a little morbidly, and then began equally seriously, "I meant to ask you something. I suspected it two days ago after I was chatting to Brendon. He was telling me a story about Dumbledore and his genius. It's shocking and disturbing but much harder to prove than the case we are building for Binns but actually proving it is an afterthought for me."

Tom looked at her in trepidation and nodded, giving her a go to go ahead.

"Have you come across two arts called Leglimency and Occulumency in your readings?" She asked instead.

"They are familiar. Mind arts, but I would not know the details. I had planned to read it on the second half of this year." He informed.

"I had been meaning to recommend Occulumency to you. It is the art of closing or clearing one's mind to others, but it helps with nightmares and night terrors. It also gives better organization of thoughts and your mind. It slipped my mind but after my conversation with Brendon, we might need to start it sooner than your plans anyway. It also helps prevent Leglimency, which is reading the mind. Blacks are well known publically for the mind arts. I began learning the first as a mere toddler and the latter, I self-taught myself, with a little help from my elf as a subject. " Cordelia begun speaking and she had a dead serious face, "Now when I heard about Dumbledore, I thanked my family for forethought. There was a confusion in Gryffindor about who was the thief, you heard about that…"

He nodded, immediately recalling the scandal where a lot of artefacts and books of the members of that house had gone lost. There were two suspects.

"Dumbledore looked the two in the eye and waved his wand and he knew. I guess the Gryffindor purebloods present, all of them were below fourth year, have yet to be acquainted with the principles of mind arts or else they would have known. Leglimency requires eye contact and considering Dumbledore and his omniscient personality, I connected the dots very clearly. He uses it on people even though it is illegal without consent. It is a violation. He could land in Azkaban." Cordelia was outraged by the end.

"I suspected. He was the instructor who came to me for my introduction to the Wizarding World, and he just knew some things that I had been afraid that he would discover. I had the opportunity in my hand and I was counting every wrongdoing that I ever did in my head that could prevent me from going and he somehow knew. He has never liked me since. I have been careful about not meeting his eyes since I read up a bit on Leglimency but he seems to distrust me further after that. I guess he thinks I have something to hide now that's worse." Tom said, looking at her.

"You asked him about parseltongue." It was not even a statement.

Tom nodded, "I think that gave further validation to his 'reading' of me. He never told me what it meant, or could mean. I discovered that on my own…"

"He left you to the snakes..." Cordelia's voice was deeply sad and then she said abruptly, "I need some air, walk with me."

They trailed silently for a while.

Tom did not like the frowns on her face that were getting deeper and deeper.

"I assume you were behind the idea of your entry today." He began randomly.

She nodded, not getting where he was going.

"You know you would do well as a dramatist. That was quite theatrical. Slughorn would love you." He began airily and stopped when an elbow dug playfully in his ribs and he let out a laugh.

"You!" She raised her fists and though Tom was sure that she was not going to hit him too hard, he ran away from her.

And soon, they were playing tag, laughing in the cool pre-winter air.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

Tom was woken up sometime after noon by a chirpy Cordelia. He groaned and snatched his blanket back.

"No, no, wake up. I woke up an hour ago and even took a shower. I have news." Cordelia was quite persistent and very excited.

"I liked you better when you pretended to be courteous around me." Tom complained.

She let out a loud guffaw.

Tom gave her an irritated look that set her off again.

"Aww...I promise the news makes up for it. Come, get cleaned up. I am going down to great hall and I will see you there within 20 minutes or order an elf to wake you up." She looked at him seriously with a sugary, evil smile.

"You are evil." He muttered.

"I am." She agreed, "I told you last night, you were the one who did not believe me."

"We slept at four." He reiterated.

"That was eight hours ago. It is sufficient. You can go to sleep early tonight. I promise, in fact, I pinkly promise" She argued, with her hands folded in front of her breasts.

"What's a pinky promise?" Tom sneaked out a look from under his pillow.

"Who cares? I promise and when have I not kept one?" She made a face, 'Tom!" She jumped in his bed, "Come out or I will tickle you."

"I am not ticklish." He smirked.

"Of course you are not!" She muttered under her breath.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tom looked offended.

"Puppy Look" She said decisively after a moment, avoiding his question.

"What's that?" He looked confused now, but curious. He discovered it a second later, when Cordelia widened her already large green orbs and pulled a very convincing innocent expression, "Please..."

"You look like a small baby." Tom said flatly, but he got out of his blanket.

"That was kind of the point. A puppy is the baby of canines." She said in deadpan humor.

"I don't get you sometimes." Tom said wryly, but a hint of a smile was sneaking on his face.

"You get me sometimes? That's great, even I don't get myself at all." She continued her deadpan humor.

Tom sighed a deep sigh and said pointedly, "I will see you at lunch Cordelia."

"Good." She smiled immediately, jumped on him, wrapped her arms around him from back, plopped a kiss on his cheek and left.

No, Tom didn't for a moment think that their friendship qualified for what was appropriate for purebloods or their muggle counterparts. But he quite liked where he was with her.

* * *

 **First of all, Sorry about the late update. But I could not help it. I was stuck in a hospital. But here it is now, so do not curse me.**

 **To all the reviewers, thank you. I diligently read all of them, but my health did not allow me to respond. I am grateful to each one of you. Also, I am doing fine, at least for now, so don't worry.**

 **Addressing one issue: SIDDHARTH. Don't worry about him so much people. It is a Tom/Harry primarily. Siddharth is going to come up in Flashbacks mostly. His arrival to this world is a plot point/arc that I am still dubious about. But Cordelia is going to love Siddharth no matter what. But she loves Tom more and she would choose him over everything. It might be a Cordelia/Multi pairing in that case. She is allowed to have a harem too. Just because she is a woman does not mean otherwise. Tom will just have to deal with it if it comes to that. But Tom always comes first.**

 **TO Kassie Jean:**

 **1)** **She literally did lock away her emotions with a ritual. It is just a metaphor for shutting your emotions in crisis. It will not work. The spell is going to fail and she will be attacked with memories. That is just my style, I guess.**

 **2)** **She is MOD. That does not mean that she can call/talk to her family or friends because they were not even born in this world and might never be. Her presence is shifting the timeline.**

 **3)** **It might be a giant mess but when is reality not messy. Like I said, Siddharth is a far away thought for Cordelia. If she wanted to be with him, she would not have travelled worlds to be with Tom. But he is an important part of her.**

 **4)** **I know readers prefer the story to be a certain way but I am trying to use old plots to do something new. How I do it is my expression! I appreciate feedback, but I am not somebody who takes too many reader's suggestions or preferences for plots. If I need a poll or something, I will ask for it. Disgruntlement with plot is not something that I can help with. I write for myself not for others. So, this story is going to go as I write it or feel it should go.**

 **I WILL TAKE FEEDBACK FOR WRITING STYLE, GRAMMAR, FACTUAL ERRORS, TYPOS ETC. I WILL ALSO APPRECIATE REVIEWS THAT TELL ME IF THERE ARE LOOSE ENDS IN THE PLOT OR IF IT IS UNREALISTIC. Other than that, I am afraid I cannot accommodate much.**

 **ALSO NOTE: The bit about exorcisms in the previous chapters was a complete work of fiction. I know nothing about them apart from what I have seen in sitcoms or movies. I just believe that they traumatize people. I just cooked it up so do not take it as a given knowledge about a particular religion.**

 **Cheers! Please Read and Review!**


	17. Chapter 11: Toujours Pur

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) This is a gender bender. Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue** ** _"_**

* * *

 ** _Previously…_**

 ** _"_** ** _No, no, wake up. I woke up an hour ago and even took a shower. I have news." Cordelia was quite persistent and very excited._**

* * *

 **Chapter11: Toujours Pur**

 **Tom's POV**

"What's with the rush?" Tom said as the doors to the Room of Requirement closed.

"If I remember correctly, you wanted to know why I needed the book on family magic." She said distractedly, she was pulling her trunk out and unshrinking it.

"Yeah and I was quite peeved that no one including you with give me a straight answer." Tom pointed out with a composed face.

"We couldn't. Our Head of House explicitly forbid any member of the house to talk about it." She said, "Uncle gave me free will to reveal my parseltongue abilities but not this. And he does not trust my cousins half as much he trusts me. Abraxas didn't know but I think he guessed but he has been forbidden to reveal anything about me without my explicit permission and I could not give him my permission because I was forbidden." She turned around to face me.

"That explains it. You can tell it to me now?" He asked.

"In a bit. I will have to ask you to be patient and not ask me questions for the next few minutes or interrupt me even though you are tempted to. I will answer everything I want to after that." She said, "I can't say anything until then but you will know once you see me doing it," She took out a ritual bowl and a silver knife.

"You don't have to break an oath or try and find a way around it if it is going to hurt you." Tom began to say very urgently, his eyes very worried.

"It's not that. It's a good thing, believe me." She said, kicking off her shoes and socks.

She must have thought of something because the next moment, a thick rug came on the empty floor and a cushioned chair appeared by his side.

"Sit and you will know and don't be mad, I sincerely can't talk about it." She requested.

Tom nodded though he was a bit confused.

Cordelia cut her hand and let out a unhealthy amount of blood drop out to fill the ritual bowl, "Familus Magicus" She intoned.

Tom instantly recognized the spell, the spell to call the family totem, but how could Cordelia have control over it.

A silvery Runespoon appeared, " **Mistress,** " It hissed.

Cordelia inclined her head in recognition, "I, Cordelia Faye Black, hereby claim the heirship of the House of Black by the permission of Arcturus Regulus Black. So I say, so mote it be." She said with a straight face.

The totem disappeared within her, Cordelia's eyes glowed in power and then a ring, a silver one with Black crest appeared on her right hand and her cut healed away and she murmured in a daze of power, 'Toujours Pur."

" **Thank you dear serpent"** Cordelia hissed. Soon, the glow ebbed away.

She stood up, muttered an Evanesco at the bowl and picked it up and looked at Tom.

"Orion was not the Heir Apparent." Tom said. It was not a question.

Cordelia shook her head, "He isn't. I have a very strong affinity for family magic. I am also magically stronger and our totem likes me the best, even apart from the fact that I can speak to it. The decision was made during Lucretia's coming of age. The totem worked with me to bless her. Uncle has been grooming me for the role ever since. He said he didn't really need to because I was very interested in the family history, lore and political alliances from the start. We were going to do the ritual with family over Winter, but the dementor attack changed his mind. He gave me permission with an owl this morning. He expressly forbid us to say it outside of the family so no one could speak, not even me. He instructed me to carry out the ritual in secrecy from the rest of my cousins for time being. The less people know, the better. He did not forbid me about anybody else. The trick with family magic is that you have to be extremely precise with instructions so I could call you since you are not family and let you witness it this time. It's a surprising decision considering I am a woman but Uncle knows that he needs an heir who can withstand the wrath of Grindelwald, and Orion cannot do that. He is a bit childish for that."

"This explains a lot." Tom sighed.

Cordelia smiled, "It does and it helps us move our plans forward at a faster pace. As the heiress of House of Black, I have considerable pull at Gringotts, which I do without it too but, the title helps and the heir is allowed to use their discretion in revealing information to anybody for forming allies until the Head explicitly forbids it, so we can talk a lot more about what I know."

"You are putting a hell lot of trust in me!" Tom pointed out.

"I would not if I you did not deserve it." She shot back.

"Would you like to meet the totem?" She asked a little softly.

Tom nodded, he was a bit curious.

Cordelia summoned the totem wordlessly this time.

" **Hello dear serpent."** She hissed.

" **Mistress..."** The totem bowed all his three heads but the one in center spoke.

" **My friend would like to meet you. He speaks your tongue too."** She hissed back.

The totem eyed him.

" **Hello, serpent."** Tom hissed to the totem with a slight bow of his head.

One of the heads came closer to him and almost sniffed him.

It gave out a wordless hiss and Cordelia chuckled, " **He likes you. You may go serpent, thank you for coming. "**

"Totems can speak in your mind. Another benefit of Occulumency. It gives better control over totems." She informed.

"He is quite something." Tom said.

"Totems are very ..." She chose the word carefully, "Temperamental. They are an extension of your magic but they have a will of their own on the basis of what the family's guiding principles have been since the beginning. It is ambivalent, neither just nor moral, but ambiguous in that sense. They can resist an heir even a lord if they deem it unsafe for the family or against the best interest of the family. But mostly, they listen and guide and let you pick the best path. I wasn't lying when I said that your totem is within you. You were born with your family magic." She looked at him.

"I know that now!" Tom said a bit irritably.

Cordelia gave a light smile and ducked her head, "You can try it once you are comfortable with its idea. But be prepared. The first impression matters with the actual calling of the totem."

Tom nodded.

"The Animagus potion is ready, we can save that for tomorrow though." She said. Tom was lost in his thoughts.

"Before I forget, " She interrupted his trail of thoughts, " The transformation reminded me, I could not tell you this before as it is a family secret but being the heir, as I told you, gives me leeway." She looked at him.

"What?" Tom asked.

"Look at my eyes." She murmured.

Tom did not understand her request but complied anyway. He did not see anything, her eyes were just as vivid green as they were before, but then they changed, to midnight blue, his color.

"I am what they call a metamorphmagus, a shape shifter. It is a Black family gift, a recessive trait, the last person in the family had it 300 years ago. I am, though, stronger than the last wielder and have better control. I can change my physical attributes, eyes shape, size, color, my hair, their length, my facial structure, even my limbs, though I try not to do the latter very frequently, it gives rise to severe balance issues. I have only tried it once." She informed.

"That's..." Tom began.

"That's a lot to take in, I know. I am sorry, but I didn't want to keep secrets." She bit her lower lip nervously, her eyes slowly transforming back to her green orbs.

Tom got up and crushed her in a hug, pulling her off the ground and kissing her hair, quite uncharacteristically "Thank you. I haven't been able to voice it. How much this means to me? You being so utterly nice and good to me. I know for a fact that I don't deserve it, I was very mean to you, downright hostile. And" He shook his head.

"Don't say that about my friend. He is quite misunderstood, even by himself." She muttered softly, her lips pressed on his neck and her head resting on the crook of his shoulder.

Tom smiled and hugged her tighter.

* * *

 **Tom's POV  
**

"So, what do we have?" Tom asked. They were sitting in the court meeting.

Cordelia was sitting on his chair arm, as usual and everybody else was around.

"Well, I and Cordelia found concrete evidence for lineage. We asked for books from both Black and Malfoy libraries as corroboration to the school library book. Our information checks out." Abraxas spoke.

"The other houses are interested. Charlie was a bit put off by losing a free class but when I presented the difference in ICW material and what Binns teaches us, he caved in." Dorea added her bit.

"Same for my brother. And they are spreading the word." Anastius said.

"I and Dorea played this game with Charlie, The worst things Binns have said on the Gryffindor table. It was quite popular. We might have a way of getting people to give us consensual statements about the same that should be admissible in court or the board meeting." Cordelia said.

"We have probed out possible candidates for the position. There are three that really matter in terms of their resume. One is a pureblood, his stance is similar to Binns though, the other is a relative to a muggleborn who does not value the history as much as we would like, The third is a halfblood, who is British but studied elsewhere and loves to research history and is quite neutral. We wanted to go for him." Rosier spoke out.

"That is an obvious and good choice but it is out of our hands." Tom shared a look with Cordelia.

"We can recommend the person on our levels if it will be alright with our parents, but otherwise students don't have a say, unless there is a school court. Even Heads' and prefects don't count for much." Cordelia stated, " but we have a Black seat, a Malfoy seat, a Longbottom seat and a Potter seat on the board of governors and all of them are inclined to listen to our side of story, at least if presented properly by a student whose opinion they consider legitimate."

"In short, you" Tom said, a little amused.

"Well, I won't be that forward," Cordelia began and Tom silenced her with a look.

"Okay, I will stop being modest and just do it." Cordelia looked miffed, "I just need Dorea's help to convince Charlie. Shouldn't be too hard, Sebastian is there to help us out and that we are championing a halfblood cause so that should encourage the Gryffindors. That leaves the House of Rowle, Bones, Odgen and Burke. House of Rowle will likely align itself with the Black and Malfoy. Burke has a mind of its own but from what Herbert tells me his father would go with cool logic which is our stance. We need to reach out to the Hufflepuffs in some way, try and pass the message along, perhaps Abraxas could reach out as the Heir to the Malfoys and Charlie and Ian could help but we have the majority, so yeah we should be fine." Cordelia finished with a flourish though she looked unhappy about it. She gave Tom a look and mouthed moodily, " _Are you happy now_?" and he just rolled his eyes at her, quite openly.

"That settles the Binns matter. We can only push it next term since the board is busy with the matter of wards. How are the first years fairing?" He began and the meeting went on.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

Both of them were sitting in the Room of Requirement.

"Are you sure?" She asked Tom.

"Yes Cordelia. I checked your potion twice. It is good and exactly how it should be." Tom stated, "I helped in making it too so if you doubt your abilities, trust me." Tom was downright annoyed.

"Okay, okay! I am just checking. If we made it wrong then we can be stuck as animals with no one to turn to." She said a little defensively.

"That was low." Tom gritted his teeth.

"What?" She looked at him in confusion.

Tom narrowed his eyes at her.

"Oh, the cat incident. You were stupid and you know that. But that jab was not intentional, if that makes you feel any better." She rolled her eyes.

"You are annoying me Cordelia." Tom said in a much clipped tone.

"Well, really. I didn't know that. You annoy me all the time, do you see me complaining?" She said unconcerned.

Tom growled and set a silencio at her which she dodged.

"That was not very nice!" She said, narrowing her eyes.

"Really?" Tom asked sarcastically.

"What's got you in such a twist?" Cordelia asked with concern.

"Nothing" he gritted his teeth, "Can we please get this over with?"

"No, tell me, you were fine till last night." She persisted, "If something about me is bothering you, you should voice it rather than keep it. We need to communicate if we are working together. Did I do something? I am sorry if my paranoia is bothersome, I was just double-checking. I am usually more confident about stuff but I have not whipped this potion ever, so I was just a bit concerned."

Tom looked guilty after her small speech. He sighed, "It's nothing, not what you did. I just didn't sleep well last night." He confessed. He was expecting her to burst in anger because he had been the one who insisted that he could sleep just fine without her.

She didn't react as he expected because he was instantly wrapped in the hug. He slowly hugged her back, "It doesn't sit well you with, does it? Being dependent on someone?" She softly asked.

"People are not always this dependable or reliable!" He softly replied.

"I am sorry." She muttered.

"Why are you being sorry? It's not something that you have control over." He muttered back. Her closeness and her fragrance calmed him down.

She looked at him a bit morosely, "Doesn't mean I have to like it?"

Tom smiled.

"You should sleep for a bit. It is dangerous to take the potion when you are fatigued or distracted. You can take a nap and we will do it in evening before dinner and we are working out a schedule right after that!" She softly said.

Tom almost protested but then he sighed and nodded.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

"I didn't see a single animal. It was constantly changing forms." Tom spoke groggily as both of them opened their eyes after the limbo they went into after drinking the animagus potion.

"Something similar happened to me" She muttered, rubbing her eyes.

She shook her head to shatter the haze. She poured some water for both of them from the pitcher that she had placed on a table provided by the room before she and Tom took the potion.

"What does that mean?" Tom wondered, though there was an edge to his voice, "Do we not have forms? What?"

"Not really, no. People who don't have forms just sleep and wake up. They do not even enter the limbo. The fact that we entered and saw something means that we have forms. We just have to figure out what those shifting shapes mean." Cordelia said.

"Multiple Animagi. It is not unheard of even though there is only a myth about it. But people only see the animals that they can transform into. It doesn't quite tally." Tom said, his brain whirring.

"Multiple animagi." Cordelia said it slowly, thoughtfully. Tom didn't even need to glance at her face to know how hard she was thinking.

Off a sudden, she grabbed his hand and dragged him to where her Trunk lay open. She closed the apartment and instead opened another compartment, her library. She climbed down and he didn't need to be told and she expected him to follow.

Her library had a whole catalogue, which even the Hogwarts library did not. Tom agreed, she had quite a convenient life. Surprisingly, he didn't resent her for it. Of all the people he had met, if anybody deserved privilege, it was her.

"Once when I was 12, I got an idea that I wanted to read all the journals of my ancestors, even the obscure ones that my uncle did not know about. I went to the main black vault and withdrew all of them with my Uncle's permission." She said with a little struggle as she pulled the ladder to a specific shelf. The library was not huge, just about the size of their Slytherin rooms but Tom knew that it was very well stocked.

Tom decided to help her, but she had lifted the ladder and placed it on the shelf and was climbing, "I first thought that this particular ancestor was on something, some sort of drug, or whatever, he talked about myth as it was reality. But I still liked his journal because it talked about arcane pieces of magic that no one has heard about. I thought most of it were conspiracies, or too far fetched… but this one journal of him described something akin to what we saw. **Veritas.** " She hissed the last word.

A whole shelf of books appeared. She pulled one out. It was an old journal alright, but thick and almost like a tome.

"I kept it because I was fascinated by this idea of a potion that he had, but I remember correctly, it was this journal only that talked about the phenomena that we both witnessed." She said hurriedly, quickly climbing back down.

She quickly placed it on the long desk that was placed against one wall, it had only one chair. She quickly patted on the chair," Sit," and plopped herself over the desk.

"I won't be able to read it anyway." He pointed out.

"Normally, no." She said, but then she looked up at him and smiled with exhilaration, "but since I am the heiress, I can give you temporary access. It does not last for more than 45 minutes. Heads can give complete access, but whatever, but you can read it."

She opened the journal, "If I remember it correctly, it was towards the end of this journal. It's a fascinating idea. He theorized about a tribe that could be anything, any beast, magical creature, animal. It sounds a bit far-fetched, because he described a fourth person source who spoke about how the tribe meditated, went into limbo and those who had the ability to shape shift into anything, they saw shifting animals, never a clear image. He calls them shape shifter. It is not a reliable source and a very long shot, but maybe just maybe…." She was quickly turning the pages, "here." She exclaimed.

All Tom saw blotted ink. He could not read anything and then Cordelia intoned, "I permit Tom Riddle to read journal number 10 of Caleb Black." and he saw words, a neat old calligraphy.

They quietly read through it. The language was archaic and a mix of different languages.

But Tom got the basic gist before his permission ended. The information was barely spread over 5 pages.

Cordelia immediately took out a parchment and begun translating it in common tongue. She wrote quite fast, and neatly. Then she took out ink pots of different colors and begun highlighting the main points with his help.

In the end they had the following points of their boiled down summary of whatever the ages old tome/journal was saying, "

· The tribe could transform into anything. _What does 'anything' mean?_ _Does it count trees?_

· They used meditation to achieve each form. The more familiar you were with the form and how it worked, the easier it was to transform. _What kind of familiarity is he talking about? Do we have to see the animal or know its anatomy or its other powers? Or maybe it just works like animagus, MORE READING._

· Most of the tribe didn't have the gift. It showed up once a century. _Recessive gene like Metamorphmagus?_

· Most of the people did not try more than 30 forms in their lifetime because it took a while to control and adapt to a particular body. _This seems clear, sort of. Metamorphmagus works the same way. If you transform too quickly or frequently, it takes a while to get used to that particular limb structure. It may also be linked to other powers or features of the creature_

· Once you master a particular type of form, aerial, land, water, it becomes easier to change into other similar forms. _Okay, does that mean, once I master say a type of bird, it will be easier to convert into other kinds of birds? Seems like it!_

· It was possible to convert from one form to another without turning back into a human. _That's quite clear and handy. So the name he gives is apt, shape shifter and not just multiple animagi._

· Magical forms were possible. Since there is a mention of Shadow panther _. I am not sure how much I buy into that!"_

"I think it would be safe to presume that we cannot transform into trees. We are talking about a whole different level of metabolism there." Tom said a little carefully and Cordelia let out a tinkling laughter, "I wasn't serious you know. You really should learn to appreciate common humor."

"Okay." Tom said, nodding seriously in a very fake way.

Cordelia stuck out her tongue to him, then shook her head with a pinched nose and huffed but then said normally, "I still think we should begin with a form that both of us like for ourselves and is useful to us lest we be stuck with a single form as a safety."

Tom nodded.

"I mean what we get stuck as a cat?" She began airily and Tom groaned, "Are you ever going to let that go?"

"Grow a thicker skin. It's just the two of us. It's not like I am outing you to world. And that's a payback mister, you rolled your eyes at me in front of the entire court." She said nonchalantly and then poked a finger in his chest towards the end.

"I thought you appreciated when I am candid with you." He grimaced.

"I do, but in return, I get to be candid with you too." She said, raising a brow, "And yes, I will let you live that down. It is the last time, I swear. I just like seeing you act non-smug once in a while."

"I am not smug." Tom's eyes blazoned, he particularly enhanced his 'not'.

"You are." Cordelia said, lifting a piece of parchment from another and making a small note on it. Tom just had lines on his forehead and a very unhappy expression.

She finished the note and placed the scroll back, "You have every right to be in most cases. But I was referring to Slughorn's last class."

"I was playing a role." He argued.

"Sometimes you go that far playing a role that you do not understand what is the real you and what is the role. The boundary between them is very fickle." Cordelia looked him right in the eye, "Playing roles is a part of life. We constantly play them. It is not a bad thing, but the roles are us and sometimes I feel it is better to realize that some roles are not just suited to us or what we stand for. Smugness is not necessarily bad. It's a good thing to be proud of what you are and have unless it's getting to your head. That's why we have friends who can pull us down back to ourselves when we are flying in the air."

Tom looked a bit confused.

"Like you should pull me down when I am acting all-knowing on what's life and what you should be." Cordelia bit her lip to try and control her laughter.

Tom's emotion changed and he was caught between laughing and hitting her, "Am I supposed to be amused?" He asked very calmly.

"Ahmm."She nodded, suppressing a smile.

"Is this another attempt to get me to 'appreciate' humor?" He asked, narrowing his eyes.

She again nodded playfully, biting her lips again.

Tom just stared at her, using one of his death looks.

She stopped smiling after a bit, and it quickly morphed into worried and she blurted out, "Tom, I am sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. I won't do it again." She looked quite apologetic and she hung her head in trepidation until she heard muffled laughter and she looked above to Tom's face with widened eyes.

He had his hands on his mouth, trying to control his laughter and there were tears in his eyes.

"You meanie!" Cordelia literally jumped onto his lap to hit him. Tom just grabbed her wrists and struggled until she huffed.

Cordelia was sitting right on his lap, her cheeks were tinged with pink and red, in embarrassment and anger respectively. Tom was panting by laughing too much, but his laughter gave way to light chuckles until he was just breathing heavily with a smile. Cordelia was still glaring at him.

He just pecked her cheek. She flushed more.

"I learned it from you!" He said a little smugly.

"I am not mean!" She stated indignantly.

"You are not." He agreed.

She just gave him this look, "I won't underestimate your humor again."

"Well, you would be better off if you don't." He flashed that smug smile again.

"Smug." She muttered under her breath.

Tom gave a low chuckle and mussed her hair.

"I am not a puppy!" She narrowed her eyes.

"Could have fooled me!" He continued his tirade.

"You know what, I have decided that I am a bad influence on you." She stated with her nose lifted in air and her hands folded under her breasts.

"Don't say that about my friend." He said quite seriously, repeating her line word to word from a few days ago.

"See!" She poked her finger on his nose indignantly.

Tom let out a chuckle, "Okay, okay, shall we proceed to dinner? If we leave now, we will barely make it."

She still stared at him with a suspicious expression.

"This stops when we go out of this room" He raised his hands in surrender, "Won't do it again, unless we are alone."

She suddenly gave a radiant smile, pecked him on the forehead and got off him.

"Okay, then" Tom said, not quite understanding it.

"Mood swings." She shrugged.

Tom merely raised a brow and let it die there.

* * *

 **Another chapter out.**

 **My, my! Doesn't everyone in my reviews hate Siddharth! He is such a nice OC, people.**

 **Warning: He is not going to be brotherly or friendly. He was a lover, a serious lover.**

 **Give me one reason apart from possessiveness of Tom as to why Cordelia should not have a Harem.**

 **But by harem, I meant harem of mates. If you go back to the interlude on mates of child of magic, you will realize that the relation does not mean that she is romantically involved with all her mates.**

 **Also, love is of different kinds, there is passion and there is companionship. She had both with Siddharth, she will have more of it with Tom. Might not have any with her other mates!**

 **But just because I am nice, I will give all of you a spoiler to rest your anxious mind. If I do go ahead with the arc about Siddharth entering this world, then he and Cordelia would be platonically involved only. She will rely on him, she will care for him, but Tom is too important to her. But she was involved with him before her time travel.**

 **And by Merlin, Tom will be jealous. But big deal, he needs to deal with it. Cordelia is not his possession.**

 **So yes, Cordelia might only have a platonic harem, but it is because she will make an active choice to prioritize Tom. Not because Tom is too jealous.**

 **Give women some agency people!**

 **Evelyn's pairing is already decided. It is not with any characters from future. But that is for way later if I extend this fic. Right now, I am focusing on a short period closure, maybe till the end of the fourth year. And Siddharth is not in picture for that one (except for Flashbacks), so rest easy. I might write sequels later, a very weak 'might'.**

 **Please Review.**


	18. Chapter 12: The Memories

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) This is a gender bender. Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue** ** _"_**

* * *

 **Chapter 12: Memories**

 **Tom's POV**

Tom was just preparing for bed. He cast a tempus, if his estimation of time each night had been correct then Cordelia would be entering his room just about now.

The door opened with a squeak, quickly shut itself and he heard a few low hisses . He turned around to see Cordelia dispelling the Disillusion charm and her head appeared followed by the rest of her body. She had a stole wrapped around her usual nightwear, a pair of silk pajamas with a long shirt. This time, it was full sleeved.

"You haven't even gotten to bed!" She asked as she moved towards him.

"We are deciding that you are not going to compromise your sleep just so that I can sleep."Tom said tartly.

"Ughh.." She grimaced.

"What? You need to sleep, you cannot function without sleep, the same way I cannot, so we ARE working out a compromise." He said pointedly.

"Of course, of course." She said hurriedly, but she looked unhappy.

"Good." Tom nodded. He muffed the pillows, "I assume you have put up silencing and privacy wards along with a difficult locking spell."

"Duh" She looked at him.

"What's Duh?" He asked.

"Err. Nothing. Yes, I have put up charms obviously." She repeated, shaking her head.

"It means obviously." He asked. She rolled her eyes and nodded.

"Is it a french .." He asked.

"Nah. It's a 'me' thing." She said, climbing on the bed, mentally berating herself for using the expression from future.

"Okay," He nodded, sitting right across her, "You need to sleep. I know and admit that I don't sleep well without you…" he trailed off.

"I am keeping watch over you for at least 3 days a week. The rest of the days, I am going to bring my trunk, there is a two bed bedroom in it. We are sleeping there. I will still be near in case you have nightmares, because I refuse to let you deal with them alone. Just knowing that I am there, might give you some respite. I have worked out my schedule. I will take naps in the day and study when I am watching over you. I will sleep a bit more on the weekend and shift the work to nights as well. I will put a silencio so that you aren't disturbed and I will just use a quotation quill. Is that okay?" She said seriously, looking him right in the eye.

"That surprisingly sounds very reasonable." Tom said, a bit taken aback.

She huffed, "I am reasonable but I agree with you. I can't take care of you if I am exhausted which I want to do nor any other work or sort out things for all my cousins which I am expected to do. So, yes, I compromise."

Tom nodded, "It is feasible for me."

"Good, I also thought we could use 15 minutes each night to work a bit on Occulumency if you want to. We can slowly increase the duration and fit into other slots as we get stuff done." She continued in her work mode.

"Okay, how do we begin?" Tom nodded.

"I am not risking or raping you by entering you when you are unprepared. That is just an invasion of mind which I don't approve of. So, we are going to do some little exercises and little meditation and you are going to try building your first defense walls before we end this term. You might need a little upper hand because as illegal as it is, there might be other people beside Dumbledore who will try to look into your mind once your lordship is declared. I am considering it almost an inevitable. We will test the shields a week before we go for the break. Even feeble shields can help thwart an attack because most people will just try a subtle, low brush. I don't think anybody would be idiot enough to do a full blown attack. We can continue working on it next semester. I will give you a couple of books that might help you understand the theory of it in morning. You can read through them if and when you have time, but the practical should give you enough to work with." She began in full lecture mode.

Tom didn't laugh, he just nodded.

"The first instruction is to clear your mind. I find that tedious. Instead of not thinking about anything, think about a single thing. For a start, see a candle with a flame in your mind and maintain the image for 5 minutes, without straying your thoughts or opening your eyes. It's exhausting, so we will leave it there the first time. We will gradually work with it tomorrow and onward. Close your eyes and think" She muttered.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

"How did I do?" Tom asked.

"Not bad. 3 minutes 53 seconds." She spoke. Tom did not look happy.

"Most people take a week to get there Tom, relax, we will get it. Now attempt the image of something that relaxes you or calms you down and lie down. It's a watch day, it might help you sleep easier." She said with a fond smile.

Tom sighed, grabbed the blanket and sunk into her lap without ado.

 _A relaxing image. The first image that came to his mind were her eyes and then her smile…._

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

"It is still a mist" Tom complained.

"Well, it is a spell beyond NEWT level. That you can produce a mist is an achievement." She said, remarkably calm.

"You can do it." He pointed out.

"I learned and honed it years ago and don't compare. You got that stupid theorem in Arithmancy and I am still wrapping my head around it, do you see me complaining?" She said, shaking her head.

"You just did." He pointed out.  
She raised her hands, "Look, Patronus is extremely difficult, not only because it requires too much magic or strength but because it demands honestly of feelings. You need pure, unadulterated happiness to contradict misery and believe me not, there is a huge difference between things that you think are happy and the ones you actually feel happy about. It is trial and error, you will figure it out eventually and we will continue practicing it." She said, her voice very easygoing, she added as an afterthought, "Also, it depends a lot of the kind of memory."

Tom gave her an inquiring look.

"I had a hard time too. I tried powering it with my first ride on broom. I love flying, I feel free and I thought I was happy. But it is not a strong enough memory and it didn't work." She told him, taking a sip of water.

"What worked for you?" He asked.

"It might not work for you. Different things makes every different person happy." She pointed out, "But yes, my ultimate strength is protection and warmth of those that I care about. The happiness I feel when I am with people I love and who love me, as me as Corrie, not as the amazing daughter of the House of Black." Her tone turned bitter towards the end, but she shook herself out of the reverie, "But Tom, I am sorry in advance for what I am going to say. I am not going to prod, or anything. I know you didn't have an ideal childhood, or have people to rely on, or too many happy memories, I don't know. You know yourself best and you will have to figure it out unless you want to bounce ideas off me." She looked slightly defeated.

"You aren't wrong. I told you as much after dementor attack and you guessed it that night in my room, when you were healing my head, it's a difficult life." Tom said, his voice devoid of emotion.

She didn't say anything but her stance told Tom that she was listening intently.

"I don't really like to talk about it." He said a little dejectedly.

Cordelia nodded, "How about I tell you something, a few key things of my memories? You can tell me a few if you feel like after it?" She asked.

Tom didn't see how that would help but he was curious, he wanted to know more about her, perhaps everything.

A sofa appeared, he slumped on it, Cordelia came and sat beside him, with folded legs. "I was a happy kid. I was born in one of the most illustrious and rich families . I am technically also from the main branch of family. My grandfather Regulus was the heir and he had three children, My father, Uncle Arcturus and Aunt Charis, she is married to a foreign pureblood wizard. We don't talk much to her. Uncle Arcturus is the lord now. My parents adored me. I could not want more. But I was a 'girl'. While that was enough for my parents and some of my relatives, it did not sit too well with the others. Grandfather Regulus was not happy. He wanted them to bear a son. I was four years old when I heard the rant. I heard him yelling that it did not matter how magically powerful I was, how utterly ideal I was, in the end I was a pretty face and I would do no good to the family despite everything. I would just benefit the man who will marry me and perhaps give the family more assets because I will fetch a good bride price but Blacks don't lack funds, they didn't need my bride price. Abe was with me that day. He didn't understand much, but I did. I was already reading the newspapers and some books my then. He understood that I was sad and he tried to cheer me up but it did not help. I was too broken. I guess I lost my innocence that day. Everything I did after that was to prove that I was not a waste of space, that I had just as much intrinsic value as my male cousins did. I was 7 when my father realized this, my focus. He sat me down and he told me that he did not need a son. He told me that I was as good as one. I didn't want to be a son or as good as any. I wanted to be a daughter and be appreciated for it, be given the same exact freedom and liberties that my male cousins received. It might sound a bit foreign to you but for someone who was more magically strong than the Head of her House at the age of 10, being reduced to a secondary citizen . . . I don't know how to explain it better. Despite my power, reducing my status to just the prospects of my nuptials made me furious. I mean are women only good for that? Despite the issue of power, are we not human beings, do we not have equal stake in this world? My grandfather's view did not take root in the family by much, my parents never had a second child. They probably would have if grandfather was not so insistent on it. They rebelled. My cousins never treated me differently as much . Meaning it was not very discriminatory. But I was still expected to be a woman, have feminine qualities, behave a certain way, talk a certain way. It was a boon that I was beautiful, but that beauty is as fickle as … People always feel enamored and threatened by it. That's the reason Burga does not like me. I am too perfect. I make her look bad. The only reason I am the heiress is because uncle wants the gift of parseltongue to be passed down the main black line. I was kidding with myself when I said he cares about my power, or he cares about my political stance. He does, but he also think that I am malleable, that he is getting a heir who is brilliant and subservient. I made him think that, over the years, I made this image of myself, as this docile, courteous woman who would not challenge everything and do as her duty required her to do. I slipped a lot, let them see my true self, at times, so they could not differentiate between what's a fluke and what's real. It's a bitter life, living with a mask with your loved ones, even if for certain time. But I guess not having loved ones is much worse, where all you know about them is somebody's else's memory, or nothing at all." Cordelia was lost in thoughts and there was a bitter frown in her face. She had somewhere in her narration looked down at her hands, but Tom could see the distinct shine and wetness of her eyes. The tears she held in them did not escape though.

Tom did not say anything.

She gave a bittersweet smile to him, "It does not mean that I don't love them or they do not or did not love me. Grandfather Regulus adores me. Everyone else does too. They just expect too much from me and give me much less. They want me to perform the duties of a son, but not give me the liberties of one. They also want me to keep performing the duties of a daughter. They want me to be a pretty face while also wanting me to ….It just confuses me."

There was a silence.

"I understand somewhat I think, about the confusion, about the roles people want you to play. I was always different, different than any other kid in that orphanage." Tom said slowly. He swallowed heavily, this was the first time he was acknowledging it in front of her like that. She mentioned it tactfully, she knew about it from other sources, but this was the first time that he was admitting about the orphanage. She was as silent and alert as he was when she had been speaking. He sighed, "I never cried as a baby. I was just odd. I was too beautiful, as the matron says. The other children felt threatened by it. I am sure you of all people would know what that means. I was also quiet, I liked to read than take part in any shenanigans. I was different and magic was just the icing on top. The unexplained incidents did not endear me to the caretakers or the matron, or for that matter the other children. I did not know, how or what. I did not understand it. For a little while, I resented it. But then it saved me a couple of times, from bullies and street thugs and unwanted when I was four, I guess. I learned that if I wanted to survive, I had to embrace my powers. I began to think of it as a gift. That helped for a little while, but then that grew stale too. I didn't like that I was different despite the fact that I basked in it. I was ambitious, I knew that what I had was not something everyone did and I had plans for making a better life for myself, but that does not mean that I did not expect a certain level of civility from those that I did live with or that I was not civil in return. But I learned, adults are cruel and children are too. Soon, it was very practically realized by me that I was an anomaly, I did not fit in and people did not like that I did not fit. I was dependent on my gift so I became resentful of them. I cooked up stories in my head in which I was better than them. 'I was better than them'." He said the last one forcefully then continued, "I, for one, did not take out my frustrations on a kid. I tried to fit in. I tried not to startle them, I tried. It did not work. I simply did not belong and I realized that by the time I was 5 and a half. I learned a semblance of control of what people call accidental magic and I also discovered that I could speak to snakes. That further alienated me. I never liked any muggle, for too long at least. There was one caretaker, but then she began giving such looks, I just begun avoiding her. So, yes, I do not probably have the memories that you are recommending for the patronus."

"Was it Catholic? Your orphanage?" Cordelia asked softly.

Tom gave her a look.

"I know a lot, especially religions and spirituality, I told you." She shrugged.

"No, the orphanage was not. But the caretakers, matrons and proprietors were. We were required to go to Church every Sunday. I was banned when I was six." He said shortly.

Cordelia's eyes widened slightly but she quickly schooled her features, then she slowly bit her lip, "Magic made you feel safe?" She questioned.

He nodded.

"It makes you feel happy?" It was a question but it seemed Cordelia already knew the answer.

He nodded again.

"Things and ideas don't work as well for Patrnous, if they are not rooted in people. I am telling you that straight up, so you are going to have difficulty with the spell, no matter how many hours we devote. But we are not going to give up, Happiness is different for everybody, but patronus is not just about happiness, it is about positive emotions, people just focus too much on happiness. It is about determination, willpower, warmth, safety, love. Now you may not score very well on all of that because of your past but you are one of the most determined and ambitious people I have met. You are also very attuned to magic and wear it like a cloak. Magic makes you happy, it is your strength. We will use that, for first, until we can find or make a better memory. How about you try the first time you held your wand? I was ecstatic even though I had lived around magic all my life. I am very sure it meant a great deal more to you." Cordelia spoke very quickly but with quite a confidence and determination in her voice.

Tom had a new spark in his eyes.

Tom didn't quite manage a corporeal patronus by the end of their session, but the mist was stronger and denser exponentially.

He wanted to go further but Cordelia absolutely forbid him to try any more. She yelled his head off, more like. Tom had looked slightly taken aback at first but had quickly tried to calm her down with his easy, charming smile.

Cordelia did not take that well either, she had given him a death glare.

Tom translated that as 'It is nice and good that I love you because if I didn't, you would not be alive' and chuckled and murmured an apology.

But as he was turning around when Cordelia begun gathering her stuff in the room, he realized that she was probably the first person who had declared such ownership and rights over him, off her own accord.

Love, he had thought that the emotion she was trying to portray was love and Tom off a sudden found his face hot by something hot streaming down his eyes. He had never felt or observed that emotion directed at himself in somebody. That selfless, unapologetic care that he had been receiving. He was feeling happy, so happy, he didn't know why he was crying. He wanted to raise his wand and he knew that he could have cast a patronus then but he did not want to make her angry too. He quickly wiped them off, collected his bag and turned to face her. She was still stuffing books in her bag.

"Now we are not doing this for another two days. You stretched yourself too much today…We will work on the animagus..." She trailed off when she looked at him.

He nodded, "I know, I understand."

"You are not usually this meek"She got up, folding her hands across her breasts.

"I am not meek. I am merely being agreeable, which I am when people speak something logical." Tom retorted softly, shaking his head.

"Alright then." She dropped her hands but she was still looking suspiciously at him, as if something was not quite right.

Tom sometimes got scared by her astute readings of him. But she ultimately decided to drop it, as she picked her bag and begun leaving.

Tom remembered something, "Cordelia," He called out softly.

She turned around with a slight confusion on her face.

"If you ever refer to my friend as a waste of space, your angry bear form will appear tame in comparison to my fury over it." Tom said quite meaningfully.

Cordelia appeared touched, her eyes had a wet tinge, but she just solemnly nodded.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

Tom was sitting with Avery and Abraxas in the common room and helping them with a couple of herb properties in herbology when he heard a wide commotion from the Girl's dorm with loud bangs of spells.

Tom and Abraxas got up immediately with their wands out.

"Check on your cousin Lucretia." Tom barked. _Cordelia had just gone up some ten minutes ago to fetch something from her room. She was still in the site of the commotion and that worried Tom._

But before Lucretia could move, Cordelia came down the stairs and was down in a blink.

Her face looked a cross between being amused and highly annoyed. She looked at Walburga and said in a deadpan tone, "I apologize for the day I called you tiresome Burga. Apparently, there are people who have worse assumptions than you."

"What happened?" Abraxas demanded. Tom quickly surrounded them, the black cousins, Abrarxas, Cor"elia and himself in a privacy bubble.

"My fellow yearmates from the dorm, quite melodramatically tried to put me in my place, so to speak." Cordelia said calmly, with an annoyed smile and plopped herself on the couch.

"Dorea, do me a favor, Call a meeting of the court and ask those 4 nincompoops to be present because I know Lyra Greengrass was with them too.:Tom said with an edge in his voice.

"What are you doing? I can fight my own battles. I think I scared them sufficiently."Cordelia said irritably.

"I am making it clear that insulting you is not allowed. So just buck up and accept it." He said in an equally annoyed voice and rather forcefully.

'What did you say? I think I heard you wrong." Cordelia asked him with a little shock.

Tom raised a brow.

"And I don't have a say!" She asked.

It should not have been possible, but Tom's brow just went up.

Abraxas, Alphard and Orion were staring at Tom. Dorea looked satisfied. The others, Lucretia and Walburga looked confused.

"You are a control freak." Cordelia said indignantly.

"And you don't have a filter on your mouth. DO you see me complaining?" Tom replied back equally angrily.

"Yes…" She raised both of her brows, "What in the name of Merlin's pants is your freaking problem?"

"See, like I said, no filter." Tom said calmly, "Cordelia, I think you of all people would understand feeling indignant on behalf of another person because you care about them. And I do care about you, so shut up, and I am going to see how those princesses react when I take their case!"

She stuck her tongue out.

'Now, that's very mature. . ." Tom said sarcastically.

"Will you calm down?" She said slowly in a whisper, putting her palm on his heart, "We are creating a scene!" She softly murmured.

"Do you trust your cousins to not spread gossip?"Tom asked.

"Yes!" Cordelia said carefully.

"Then I trust them not to reveal about our argumentative selfs beyond the people in this privacy bubble." Tom said easily.

"Why Dorea?" She asked another question quite softly instead of expressing her bewilderment," Why not Abraxas or Orion? They are already a part of the court."

"Because I will be inducting a few new members to the court and she is one of them. It is time that women get represented in the court of what is their house too." Tom said a bit warily.

The rest of them gasped and Cordelia looked really touched and surprised.

Dorea's smile disappeared and now, she looked bewildered but pleased.

"And Corrie will be joining the court as well?" Abraxas could not help but ask.

"No." Tom said directly. The Blacks looked stricken. Cordelia had a poker face.

"She will be running the court with me, if she would have it?" Tom added, giving a questioning look to Cordelia, remembering her comment about having a say and giving her a choice.

Now, Tom had done it. Cordelia was almost gaping at him. But since she was used to keeping full composure, all she gave was a startled opening of her mouth.

She just looked at him questioningly, giving him a look that said, 'Are you serious?'

He just nodded.

Cordelia looked at her cousins. Orion and Abraxas and even Alphard were nodding vigorously. She passed their gazes without thought. Lucretia was as docile as ever and for a change, Walburga appeared in her favor by the light in her eyes. It was Dorea's encouraging single nod that solidified her decision. She looked at Tom and Tom knew that she was agreeable, but she still gave a small, uncharacteristically shy nod.

"That's good, we don't want your list to go to a waste." Tom said slowly, hiding how happy he was, but a small smile still made its way through.

"Now, that would be a shame!" Cordelia smiled a full blown smile and getting closer to him. "Who are the other members?"

" I was thinking of inviting Titania Shacklebolt. She has nerve. I thought I would discuss the rest with you since like you said, you had ideas." Tom said slowly, with a teasing smile and he was buried in a giant hug.

Walburga sneered at that, but Dorea and Abraxas gave her a fine glare and the sneer quickly died.

* * *

 **Here is the next update. For awhile, my chapters will be slighly unedited. Pardon that. I just do not have enough time on hand, but please feel free to point them out.**

 **Please Review.**


	19. Chapter 13: Saving Charlie

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) This is a gender bender. Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue"**

* * *

 **Chapter 13**

 **Saving Charlie**

 **Tom's POV**

Tom woke up in cold sweat, panting in the bed inside the bedroom of Cordelia's trunk. He looked at the other bed, Cordelia was sleeping peacefully. " _Good, that means that the silencing charms I have put up are working._ " He thought.

Just looking at her calmed him down. He decided to get himself a drink of water from the kitchen in the trunk.

He drank a glass and sighed, and then he heard a soft footfall behind him.

He stilled. She was going to be furious. Cordelia came, picked out a glass for herself and poured another glass for herself.

She did not say anything. "You scared me." He said slowly when he realized that she won't say anything.

"I was scared too when I woke up for water a while ago, looked at your bed, saw your face distorted in a scream but did not hear a voice. " She said blandly, fixing him with an uninterested look.

She looked down and took another sip of water.

"I…" He began but did not complete it.

"I am not going to complain, Tom. I think I have made it sufficiently clear that I will be there. To use it or not, is up to you. I will respect your wishes" She said sharply. Her eyes had fire in them.

Tom sighed, "It is not that, you know that."

The fire died a little, "I know." She sighed too, "Look I know, I get it. I am frankly a hypocrite for screaming at you. I never told anybody about my nightmares either. I did not think that anybody could actually help without straining themselves. I am like that about help, it takes me a while before I trust people, and when I do trust them, I don't want to be a bother because I don't like it when they are troubled because of me. I get it. So, don't think that I don't. I just, you need to take help Tom. You need to work with other people. Going solo is not just lonely, it is also a foolish way. It is better to have people around you who would stand by you, for better or for worse. And I found a way to help you without straining myself, or stretching myself too thin. It is not like that I am giving up on something very crucial to help you and even if I were, it would be my choice. Sometimes, you just have to accept that you are that loved and live with it and bask in it. You need to learn to accept that people are going to care. You might think you are unable to reciprocate or that you are not doing enough, but that's irrelevant. You don't try to weigh gestures and care. You might be doing something far greater for me without even realizing. So just buck up and accept it." Cordelia intoned his quote from earlier in the day.

She was frowning.

"I should take my own advice, huh!" He said gently.

She just gave him a cool look.

"Cordelia!" He began.

"My name is a mouthful. Move ahead." She said, folding her arms.

"It is such a beautiful name." Tom cried, looking aghast.

"I never said it isn't. I just said it is a mouthful. And don't try to change the topic." Cordelia said in an annoyed tone.

"Okay, I won't put more silencing spells until and unless I feel that you need sound, uninteruppted sleep that day." He said in defeat.

She gave a sigh, "I guess that is the best thing I can hope for. Come on, we should sleep. We have classes in 4 hours." and got up and left.

Cordelia was removing a scenery when Tom walked back in the bedroom. He distinctly recognized some symbols as runic circles on the bare wall. Cordelia touched her wand on a couple and both of their beds shifted together, making one huge bed.

"Are you sure?"He gave her a look.

"Oh, get to the bed. I am not leaving you alone to have a nightmare. But since you are so adamant about me getting my sleep, I am sleeping next to you." She said, picking up the blanket.

"That's not what I asked." Tom said, "There is a reason boys cannot go into Girls' dorm." he said lightly.

"I trust you to not do anything inappropriate, there. I hope you trust me likewise." She said with a shrug, "I am not letting adults define what is appropriate for me. They can go ram their heads in a wall for all they want. If I want to help my friend, I will. Unless, you mind." She went on a tirade.

Tom just chuckled. He did not get the appropriations too much, he had never had any sort of pre-conceived model to follow.

He joined her in bed and before he knew, they both had curled up and slept.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

"Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff, hmmm" Cordelia was lavishly topping her pancakes with maple syrup.

"It should be interesting. Gryffindor has always been a strong team but Hufflepuff showed that their new team is no slouch. I am having trouble predicting an optimal outcome." Abraxas said.

"Well, if Hufflepuff wins, Slytherin has a good chance. If Gryffindor wins, we will have chance to play really good quidditch. I am open to both." She shrugged.

Renatus snorted.

"You want to share an insight, Heir Lestrange." Cordelia asked unaffected.

"The Lions are a lousy team. Dunderheads or not, Hufflepuffs have a better chance at winning than them." Renatus said pompously.

"On what basis, since Lions have won the cup for the past two years. And now Charlie has been making them work even harder since he is the captain." Cordelia said conversationally, then put a piece of pancake in her mouth using the fork and chewed gracefully.

"Potter is a clueless, light wizard." Renatus sneered.

"You statement is partially correct but the context is wrong. It is true that Charlie is light and he is a bit naive, certainly not clueless, but none of those actually apply in any sense to his Quidditch skills, in which he beat you in pureblood summer gala this year, I believe." Cordelia said, enjoying the derailment.

Renatus grimaced.

"And what were the scores, Dorea?" Cordelia did not leave it alone.

"Heir Lestrange was quite thoroughly beaten with a difference of about a 100 points, I believe." It was Alphard who answered, proud to have answered the question.

Cordelia beamed at him. She had revealed her heiress status to Abraxas and all her Black cousins the previous day. Alphard had been ecstatic and had been going out of way to prove that he was not a dunderhead.

Cordelia was about to add something further when she received a look from Tom. She just gave him an innocent smile but said nothing and stopped.

"I do agree with Cordelia though, if the Quidditch team of Slytherin was not so prepared and did not have the surprise element, it would have been tough to beat Gryffindor. They had good strategies." Tom added when he could not resist. He winked at Cordelia and she just chuckled.

"You are going to side with that light wizard." Renatus gave a look of betrayal to Riddle.

"As much as I appreciate your zeal, Heir Lestrange, blood politics has nothing to do with Quidditch, and you would do well to keep it out to protect the sanctity of the game and you are forgetting, Charlus Potter is the Heir of House of Potter and if you continue to blatantly disrespect the heir of a noble and ancient house without due cause, I am afraid I will have to report you to the House of Lords. And as for Tom, he is not siding with Gryffindor, none of us are, he is merely pointing out a fact that you are unable to comprehend." Cordelia said sharply.

"You can insult me, a mere wench, but I cannot insult that Potter!" Renatus growled.

"Stop being uncouth Renatus, apologize to Ms. Black. She has been nothing but courteous despite your tireless behavior and insults aimed at both her and Heir Potter. And Renatus, don't ever call Cordelia by that distasteful address again. I don't think you will ever have leave to call her by her first name, but address her as Ms. Black if you must." Tom barked, his eyes had a dark look. He did not like it when people insulted her. He remembered that the court meeting was scheduled for tomorrow when he would be dealing with his other female slytherin yearmates about what they said to Cordelia.

Renatus grudgingly fell quiet.

"Save a seat for me, Cordelia. I might just attend the game." Tom requested in a lighter tone to Cordelia.

She raised a brow.

"The game might have grown on me, after watching you play." Tom admitted.

Abraxas chuckled at that and Alphard guffawed, catching the attention of the rest of the Great hall.

Riddle and Cordelia both gave Alphard a silencing look. He immediately stopped laughing. "Sorry" He said meekly.

Cordelia smiled at that, chuckled lightly and shook her head, "You cousin, will never learn." She passed Tom a swift smile, "I will save you a seat and I am glad that something made you like Quidditch."

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

Cordelia and the Slytherin Quidditch team, along with Dorea were seated in the Quidditch stands after the classes. Dorea was there to support Charlie . The team was there to observe and Cordelia was doing both the above, while chatting up about Quidditch with Tom who sat next to her.

The game was really competitive. It could go either ways.

The rest of the court was there too in another Slytherin stand, including Renatus.

Cordelia had seen Tom ask other members of court to sit with Renatus so that he could vent a bit and not keep a grudge.

"The quaffle is with Potter, who passes it to Longbottom and Potter and goal." The Hufflepuff commentator said dully. Not even his personal stake in the match because of his house identity did anything for his monotone. "Hufflepuff and Gryffindor are at tie at 120 points each."

Cordelia and Tom yawned together and shook their heads to get rid of the sleepiness.

They were sleepy because both of them had slept in and not because of the lack of the sleep.

They had slept too well, curled up against each other and had slept through both of their alarms, unconcerned.

It was the intruder alert alarm's blaring that woke both of them up. The intruder alarm had rang up when Abraxas had come to check on Tom when he did not come out with just 20 minutes to breakfast. Cordelia had a backup uniform in the trunk and both of them had just quickly freshened up and left.

But they were still feeling sleepy, especially because it was really cold and they had decided to sit next to each other really close to gain some warmth from each other.

Cordelia had conjured a blue flame and it was burning beside them in a glass jar. Quite a nifty piece of magic. She thanked Hermione in the head for that.

It was raining miserably, the weather was horrendous.

"I bet they are totally envious of us. I am glad that Slytherin has the next match scheduled only in spring." She muttered quietly, moving closer to the flame and Tom.

"Tell me about it. I have always hated playing Quidditch in such pouring weather. It is the worst for the seeker.' Burke added as he was staring into his binoculars.

"Yeah, I just hope nobody falls off their broom." Dorea said worriedly.

"He will be fine." Cordelia gave her a comforting look.

Tom gave her a questioning look.

Cordelia whispered, "She dreamed last week that Charlie fell off the broom in the middle of match. She has had this horrible feeling since then. She has constantly been asking him to be careful, but you know Gryffindors and boys, when do they listen to reason? He waved it off even though he appeared to be touched." She shook her head.

"Was that a jab at me?" Tom asked quietly.

She just hmmed with a nod.

"What do you want me to say?" Tom appeared troubled.

Cordelia just begun laughing outright.

"This is not funny." He reiterated, " I want to know if you are angry at me for some forsaken reason."

She laughed harder, "I am not angry. I was having fun at your expense."

"You have been doing that a lot recently. I repeat, I liked you better when you were courteous." Tom huffed.

"Awww, did Poor Tom get mad?" Cordelia made a baby face and begun pulling his cheeks. If looks could kill, then Cordelia would have been dead ten times over.

But as it goes, his look just made her laugh harder and she begun to poke him in his ribs to get him to talk to her.

Their fingers were wrestling when Cordelia's pokes became painful. Tom gave her another look and she just smiled innocently. He looked above and gave a 'help me' look with defeat and that made her giggle harder.

Their shenanigans were interrupted with Dorea's scream, "Charlie, what are you doing?"

Cordelia quickly looked up.

Charles Potter was quite uncharacteristically flying higher into the sky.

He as a chaser did not need to, only seekers needed to fly that high, occasionally beaters but chasers remained in the vicinity of the pitch but that did not explain Dorea's scream. In the next second, Cordelia found out the reason when Charles broom lurched dangerously.

Cordelia quickly found Dorea's hand and clutched it in her right. Dorea dug her nails into it.

"This isn't right. He looks almost confounded." Cordelia muttered to herself. Tom had gotten on her left side and was looking at her carefully, all of their mock animosity gone from his face.

"We would see if somebody cast a spell from the stands." Abraxas added.

"Not really. There is a variation of confundus charm that is gray in its beam. Our eyes would miss it in this backdrop." Tom informed swiftly, "The question is who is going to be idiot enough to use it in a mere game. Quidditch is not worth somebody's life."

"I doubt any Hufflepuff would want to. They are all about fairplay, except for maybe Smiths." Cordelia said absent-mindedly, lines on her forehead and a worried expression, "C'mon, Charlie, fight it, fight it goddamn it."

"Aren't the teachers noticing it?" Alphard said, who was standing on the other side of his elder sister, Dorea.

"I am not sure." Cordelia said. Her eyes pinned on Charlie. "Look Weasley has gone up to help and Prewett is grabbing Sir Murphy."

"Oh no, the bludger." Anastius said quickly.

It was heading towards Weasley who hit it on a full force, and somehow Charlie's broom flew in the path of the bludger and Charlie got knocked off his broom.

Before the hit of the bludger registered in many minds, Cordelia untangled her hand from Dorea, pulled out her wand and while holding it in both her hands, screamed , " Arresto Momentum Duo."

It earned her looks from everywhere in the stadium, including the Professors' stand, who were just getting up as a reaction.

Charlie's fall slowed down. The spell worked.

Cordelia gritted her teeth as she tried to maintain the spell. Charlie was heavy and the spell itself took a lot of magical strain than the simple Arresto Momentum without the added weight. Her face grew pale and her nose started bleeding. She ignored Tom and Abraxas' worried interruptions, tuned out Dorea's hysterical, grateful cries, ignored the buzz in the stadium as she struggled to lay Charlie on the ground, unscathed.

She put Charlie on the ground safely and sighed, collapsing backwards on Tom's arms, who quickly healed her nose, while Abraxas gave her water, which she gratefully gulped.

Tom took out his handkerchief and lightly dabbed her lips and area beneath her nose, while he held her weight in a single arm. Alphard and Dorea had run to the ground to see Charlie.

The rest of the team was hovering over her. She breathed deeply, "Can you let me up, Tom?"

Tom straightened her, but kept his arm around her as support.

Cordelia took another deep breath."Does he look alright?"

"He is fine, sister." Orion said, his voice mellow, "You should worry about yourself. Arresto Momentum is meant for small objects at our level, not for humans."

"I could not think of anything else. That's why I used the stronger variant. It can hold two objects, I reckoned it could hold one human being." Cordelia said slowly, her face still pale. She panted a bit, gulping more breath.

"Come on, we need to show you to the mediwitch." Tom said gently.

"Can I see Charlie first?' She softly requested.

"Yeah, come on. We will go to infirmary with Potter and Dorea. Orion and Abraxas, come with us. The rest of you contact the rest of the court, see that everyone reaches the dorm safely and no one leaves till dinner. Call elves if somebody is hungry. Only prefects, in pairs, can leave if they want information. No roaming around. Burke is in charge until I come back." Tom said slowly and clearly, "Is that clear?"

All three nodded.

"Good, Cordelia can you walk?" Tom asked.

She nodded, "Don't leave me though, I think I might collapse."

At that, Abraxas grabbed her from her other side. Cordelia wrapped her shoulders around each of their neck as they guided her down the stairs.

* * *

 **Please Review.**


	20. Chapter 14: Dressing down Dumbledore

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) This is a gender bender. Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue"**

* * *

 ** _Previously…_**

 ** _"_** ** _Can I see Charlie first?' She softly requested._**

 ** _"_** ** _Yeah, come on. We will go to infirmary with Potter and Dorea. Orion and Abraxas, come with us. The rest of you contact the rest of the court, see that everyone reaches the dorm safely and no one leaves till dinner. Call elves if somebody is hungry. Only prefects, in pairs, can leave if they want information. No roaming around. Burke is in charge until I come back." Tom said slowly and clearly, "Is that clear?"_**

 ** _All three nodded._**

 ** _"_** ** _Good, Cordelia can you walk?" Tom asked._**

 ** _She nodded, "Don't leave me though, I think I might collapse."_**

 ** _At that, Abraxas grabbed her from her other side. Cordelia wrapped her shoulders around each of their neck as they guided her down the stairs_**.

* * *

 **Chapter 14**

 **Dressing down Dumbledore**

 **Cordelia's POV**

"Orion, can you grab my bag from Dorea. She has it shrunken. I could use a pepper up." She said as they reached the ground.

The mediwitch was hovering over Charles. Dorea stood at one side, clutching Alphard's arm. A few Professors along with the rest of the Gryffindor team and Hufflepuff stood aside.

The match had been temporarily aborted.

Charlie had opened his eyes. They were wide with surprise and a healthy amount of fear.

"How are you doing Charlie?" She asked quietly, settling down beside him on the ground, still clutching Tom's hand. Abraxas stood behind her, in case she fell back. Orion went and got the bag.

Cordelia shuffled and brought out a bottle, uncorked it and drank it.

"She will need an examination once you are done with Charles, Madame Underhill, I think she might have magically exhausted herself." Tom requested,

"I am fine now, I took the pepper up." She left his arm. She looked better, some color had returned to her cheeks.

Tom did not look happy, whether because she left his arm, or her blatant disregard for her health.

"A confounding charm itself cannot create such a confusion. It barely lasts for more than a few seconds." Cordelia muttered.

"I tried to fight it. I couldn't. I knew that bludger was going to hit me and yet I went into his path." Charlie said slowly, "It was almost like that I had a buzz in my head."

"Befuddlement draught." Madam Underhill and Cordelia muttered together.

"Did you drink water just before this happened?" Cordelia swiftly asked.

Charles nodded.

Cordelia pounced on his water kiosk, "As I suspected." She smelled it, "A distinct smell of sweetness in the water." She handed it to Madam Underhill.

"Thank you Cordelia. I cannot tell her how much …I am grateful. Consider the House of Potter and me in debt of you and the House of Black." Charlie said slowly as Madam Underhill healed his bruises.

"There are no debts between families." Cordelia glanced at Dorea and then back at him, smiled weakly and nodded.

Charles just appeared surprised, but he gave a weak smile.

Cordelia looked towards the Professors, it was Dumbledore, Murphy, Foster and Monroe.

"I trust that there will be an investigation." She asked looking pointedly at Dumbledore.

"It was a silly prank to get more Quidditch scores, my dear. It does not warrant an investigation." Dumbledore smiled at her.

"Are you insinuating that the other Hogwarts Quidditch teams would stoop low enough to drug and confound a fellow student to win the game at the cost of the life of the said student?" Cordelia asked sharply.

"It was harmless." Dumbledore insisted.

"Well, I don't know how you got your mastery in Alchemy Professor, when you do not know the basics of spell and potions interactions. The consequence of mixing of Befuddlemet draught with any mind altering spells, be it a simple confundus, a complicated gray befuddling charm or Imperius in the worst case scenario, is mental retardation. This was not harmless. It could have cost Heir Potter his life be it in terms of his death or otherwise. If the person knew what he was doing, then it is imminent that we find him. If they did not, even more so. People should not meddle with things that they do not have full comprehension of, especially when it concerns another life." Cordelia said tartly.

"My dear, I am sure that the person did not mean to be malicious. It is just a quidditch rivalry gone wrong." He persisted.

"The only rivalry, Gryffindor has, is with Slytherin. Are you insinuating that I or my teammates had something to do with it?" Cordelia asked sharply.

"Are you insinuating that Hufflepuff stooped this low ?" Dumbledore retorted.

"I am not denying that all houses are equally under scrutiny. All I am finding an issue against is dismissing this act as mere competitiveness due to Quidditch. It might be a Slytherin, or a Hufflepuff or a Ravenclaw or for that matter a Gryffindor, but the intent was malicious. Heir Potter could have died, need I say more. But if you wish, he is sole heir of the an Ancient and Noble house and has no siblings. The House of Potter would not have just lost a son but also their entire line with Charles. The penalty for both crimes is Azkaban and Life penalty respectively. If you will not report it and order an investigation, I will." Cordelia had raised her volume, had gotten up to her feet and was giving Dumbledore a death look.

"You are making a mountain out of molehill, Cordelia dear." Dumbledore tried again.

"I am not and you know it. Is it because the match will be considered forfeit if you call an investigation? And you are afraid of losing an easy win, considering Gryffindor was in lead before the bludger knocked Charles , I daresay, Gryffindor can afford to play another match, and lose if they might, rather than leave the perpetrator of this act free. Clause 237 of the handbook of Hogwarts states that a match can be rescheduled in case of malicious intent. If you want, I can produce the exact wording within the next hour." Cordelia was very agitated.

"My dear, your view is skewed because of your priorities. Slytherin will have equal chances of winning even if this match went to Gryffindor." Dumbledore did not admit defeat.

"Professor if I may," Sir Murphy began.

"Not now Murphy, I have it handled." Dumbledore cut him off.

"Don't twist my words into nothing I said. I just said that I do not care about Quidditch in this matter of life and death. Will you order an investigation or should I?" Cordelia did not miss a beat, and said with gritted teeth.

"Cordelia, dear" Dumbledore tried again.

"Do not use my first name, Deputy Headmaster. I did not give you leave to use it. I can forgive one lisp, not another." Cordelia said sharply.

Dumbledore lost his merry look, instead appeared stern. "Now, Ms. Black, I have been trying to dissuade you off a folly but I will not tolerate insubordination and rude remarks. That will be 15 points from Slytherin."

Cordelia appeared impassive, "Are you calling the investigation or should I take the matter to Headmaster Dippet?" She repeated.

"There is no need..." Dumbledore began

"I, Cordelia Faye Black, on the onus of being the heiress of the noble and ancient House of Black, demand an investigation, fearing for the safety of my fellow heir, Charles Potter and what this malicious attack might mean for other heirs. So I declare, so mote it be." Cordelia cut him off.

"I, as the heir of noble and ancient house of Longbottom, second it. I declare it, so mote it be." It was Sebastian Longbottom who spoke.

"And if there is a need for third, consider me in. So I, the heir of house of Malfoy declare, so mote it be." Abraxas followed Longbottom's lead.

"Clause 45 of Hogwarts charter and Clause 453 of House of Lords dictates that Aurors be called if and when Heirs of any line with a seat in Wizangomot feels threatened. Please take it seriously Headmaster, or you will be getting a call from the Hogwarts board of governors. And if need be, the Black lawyers. I hope I am clear." Cordelia said frostily.

"There is really no need..." Dumbledore tried to diffuse the situation.

"Familus Magicus." Cordelia intoned, "I swear on my family magic that if Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore does not call authorities, he will be considered a threat to the line of Blacks and their family magic. If need be, the house of Black will step in in support of the House of Potter, Longbottom and Malfoy. So I declare, so mote it be." Cordelia's eyes glowed with power and the Black totem appeared, sniffed Dumbledore, tied him in magic and went back inside Cordelia in a blink.

"You will not try to communicate with any sons and daughters of House of Black beyond the classroom and that includes Sebastian. They will only communicate with you in front of a crowd, meaning 8 people and more until after the investigation is cleared. Am I clear?" Cordelia said, "And if you give any grief to Charlie or Abraxas, you will hear more from me and the house of Black. Deduct all the points if you want" She said it in a controlled, icy and fiery fury.

Dumbledore's brow twitched but he did not say anything and left and after a while disappeared.

Cordelia fell back immediately and Tom caught her.

"Corrie, you know invoking family magic is lethal when you on brink of exhaustion." Abraxas hurriedly whispered to her and Tom, as he added his support.

"Dumbledore needed a dressing down." Cordelia said weakly.

"That was brave and honorable, but you need to know your limitations, Cordelia" Tom said hurriedly.

Madam Underhill quickly came to her and poured something down her throat.

Cordelia's breathing evened.

"You are spending the night in the Hospital wing along with Charles." Underhill said urgently.

"I am staying in my dorm and I would advise the same to Charlie, if he will have it. The perpetrator is still out and Dumbledore is unhappy. I would like to stay where my friends and family can protect and watch over me." Cordelia shook her head.

"She is right, I will keep a watch over Charlie." Sebastian said.

"Take turns, and have more people around, only the ones you trust. I am afraid we have a tumultuous month ahead." Cordelia said slowly.

Sebastian and the rest of Gryffindor team nodded.

Madam Underhill sighed "She is sleeping, right away." and added sternly and then conjured a stretcher and Tom took its control while Madam hovered Cordelia to it before Cordelia could protest.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

Tom had been mesmerized as he saw Cordelia cast that spell. The rush of power and magic that he felt in the air had left him high. His drunkenness had staggered only when he saw her nosebleed. She must have been using a lot of her magical strength to do the spell.

He was again mesmerized when she teared down into Dumbledore, relentless in her quest, not waiting for anyone's support, just fighting for what she believed in. It took great amount of courage to do something like that, something he lacked.

He had been taken aback by her loyalty to Heir Potter, to her cousins and he had been taken aback by their loyalty to her. He now understood why people were confused about which House Cordelia would go into.

She was brave like a lion, cunning like a serpent, loyal like a badger and smart and logical like a eagle. He wondered how the sorting hat decided that Slytherin would be best for her.

He was taken aback by her strength, the zeal with which she demanded the investigation, the form with which she articulated herself, the ease with which she called the black totem, and performed that powerful magic. Tom had taken it all, breathless.

He saw her fall back. He was proud of the fact that she stood her ground until Dumbledore disappeared.

But then Abraxas' statement send him into a frenzy. Truth be told, he had forgotten about the exhaustion by witnessing her sheer magical strength. Cordelia was a very fine actress.

And she knew how to get people to obey or listen to her, even at the brink of exhaustion. He agreed with her caution and honestly, he was worried sick about her.

She had made the perpetrator, whoever it was, her number one enemy by calling the investigation and also by declaring her heiress status. He would have to keep a close eye on her. He would introduce her to the court as soon as possible, so she had more support, and more eyes to look for danger.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

Tom had rejected the idea of putting Cordelia in her room outrightly. He wanted her somewhere where he could keep an eye on her.

Abraxas and Dorea had nodded.

Dorea had promptly called an elf to empty an area of the Common room and to put up a bed there and she had quickly gone and got extra beddings.

Tom had without hesitation, helped her put them on. He was used to doing it on his own in the orphanage. He and Dorea did not stop when the elves protested. Instead Tom requested them for curtains to protect Cordelia's privacy.

Tom had quickly muttered numerous protection spells at the curtain, inducting a temporary privacy wards and silencing spells. He then gently lifted Cordelia with a levitation spell, as Dorea and Lucretia made sure to keep her head stable, and placed her on the bed.

"She gave her a dreamless sleep so she should be asleep for a while." Dorea said lightly, as Tom was busy gazing on her figure.

He nodded, his head distracted, "You should check up on Charles. There is still an hour to curfew. Take an escort."

Dorea shook her head, "She needs me more right now. She deliberately made herself the target. The perpetrator will not go for Charlie now. She is the bigger threat. Family before anything, Charlie will be fine."

"We are taking turns watching her. I want oaths from anybody who comes within 5 steps of her bed. As of now, I am treating everyone but her family and the Slytherin team as potential perpetrators. I would still feel better if everyone who is volunteering for the watch, except the family, took oaths. " Tom turned around to face the court.

'Feel better' was a polite version of an order.

In the end, Burke, Flint, Zabini, Rosier, Nott, Travers and even Abraxas took oaths. Tom told Abraxas that he did not need to, but Abraxas was adamant.

Dorea, Lucretia and even Walburga refused to leave.

Tom asked that there be at least one guard at the common room entrance and three guards around the general vicinity of the bed. He himself stayed.

Orion left to guard the common room door at the along with Nott for the first watch.

Dorea, Riddle, Abraxas and Anastius took the watch around the bed.

Tom had a hard time sending Alphard up to his bed. Alphard was stubborn.

"She will be fine, Alphard and no one will harm her here, and I swear that on my honor. She will be fine, she has to be fine. But we will need you to take the second watch. We cannot afford to trust too many people. You, Lucretia, Walburga and Burke and Flint and Travers will have to replace the others. I need you to be well rested so that you are alert on the watch. Do you get it?" Tom said gently. He could not believe that he was doing this with Alphard but he needed to calm Alphard down. He was Cordelia's family. And to Tom, that single explanation was sufficient to play nice.

Alphard looked at him.

Tom sighed and took an oath, "Do you trust me now?" He asked.

"He is right, Affy. Go to bed. She is going to need you later." Dorea said gently.

Alphard reluctantly went to bed. Tom pulled an armchair and put it inside the curtain and sat there.

Tom sat staring at her face. Abraxas came in the middle of night to ask Tom to go to bed. The people from second shift were here.

Tom shook his head, "I am staying where I am."

"But…" Abraxas began. Tom silenced him with a look, "I am used to sleepless nights Abraxas. I will be fine. It is just for tonight."

Abraxas nodded, "Flint, Burke, Lucretia and Walburga are outside the curtain. Travers, Rosier and Alphard are at the common room door. Slughorn came a while ago at the door, but he left after talking to Orion. He did not seem impressed with Dumbledore, but you know how diplomatic he is."

"He is a coward, not a diplomat." Tom said easily.

Abraxas eyes' widened.

'Does that surprise you Abraxas? My admission!" Tom asked. He was amused but he was worried about Cordelia.

"Not really, my lord. It is just something that Corrie would say." Abraxas said.

"Well, we have been spending an awful lot of time together." Tom sighed.

"Yes, my lord." Abraxas said.

"Call me Riddle or Heir Slytherin, if you have to Abraxas. I am growing tired of the lord." Tom said warily, "Just be careful around others."

Abraxas nodded.

Tom fell asleep by morning on the armchair. He vaguely remembered Alphard coming and checking on them and leaving. He woke up as it was dawn. He went out of the curtain after making sure that Cordelia was covered properly.

Burke and Flint were still agile. Lucretia and Walburga had sat down but their eyes were wide open and alert.

"Anything?" Tom asked.

"No..." Burke shook his head, "It is not surprising. This was likely a task of a lone wolf and there was too much security around Cordelia for him to bypass it."

'But there is no need to drop our guard because of it." Walburga said sharply.

"Indeed, Ms. Black. We will not be dropping our guard. I want one other person to be there beside her all the time, even after she wakes up and is fine and is attending classes. She is powerful and she can handle herself, but does not mean that she can't be caught off guard. I am very sure that she is not going to like it so we need to advocate it very strongly." Tom said seriously.

Alphard, Travers and Rosier came from the gates.

"Did any other Professor come?" Riddle asked, "Anything unusual?"

"Nothing unusual. No teachers." Travers informed, "Cordelia has made a dangerous enemy."

Riddle gave him a look. He did not know that Cordelia and Travers were close. He had never seen them around together.

"Well, he better not try anything else." Tom said, deciding to ask Cordelia about it subtly. Chances were she would see right through it but he would try. "Alright, go up, take some rest. I will be here. I napped for a while. I think she is going to be up soon. Lucretia and Walburga, can one you stay? She might need some assistance."

"We are both staying" Walburga said frostily.

"Fair enough." Tom ignored the bite of pureblood's witch's tone.

Cordelia woke up with her whole body aching.

"How do you feel?" It was Lucretia's concerned voice that she heard.

"Like a herd of hippogriffs walked all over me." Cordelia groaned.

"Take it easy, Heir Slytherin will kill me if …" Lucretia said gently.

"She is 'our' sister. Heir Slytherin can stuff it." Walburga said agitatedly.

"I didn't know you cared Burga. How touching!' Cordelia said sarcastically.

"Oh she is being sarcastic. She is not well. She is grumpy which means she is less than stellar." Lucretia said worriedly.

"I am fine." Cordelia said loudly and insistently.

'And what about the hippogriffs?" Walburga asked sassily.

Cordelia gave her an unimpressed look, "I am never leaving you in charge in case I get sick. Give me some water, will you?" She sat up.

Walburga handed her a glass.

"I will send somebody to Infirmary and someone to breakfast. Heir Slytherin reluctantly went to Breakfast on Abraxas' urging but he told that we need to inform him as soon as you wake up." Lucretia said and called out, "Anastius, grab a second year and pass the message along to Heir Slytherin will you. Corrie is awake. "

"Where am I?" Cordelia asked, getting confused.

"Common room." Lucretia informed swiftly.

At Cordelia's confusion, Walburga elaborated, "After you decided to play heroine by Charles Potter unnecessarily, I might add, you went on to give Dumbledore a good one, now that I approve of..."

"I remember all that." Cordelia cut her off, "Why am I in common room and not in my room?" She asked impatiently.

"Oh, the boys and Heir Slytherin wanted you where they could watch and protect you as you slept. Since they cannot enter the girls' dorm, Heir Slytherin said that it turns into a slide. He said it is mentioned in Hogwarts: A history." Lucretia said.

Cordelia barely kept a chuckle inside. She knew how Tom knew that.

"And well, we were not letting you in the boys' dorm. It would be so inappropriate. In the end, we decided to keep this as your fortress. Dorea had elves put up a bed here and .." Lucretia was telling but she trailed off when she saw Cordelia getting out of bed and moving beyond the curtains and instantly grabbed her hand and pulled her back to the bed.

Cordelia gave her an annoyed and surprised look.

"There are enchantments to protect you on the curtains. You are not to step out until Heir Slytherin is here. And he also said you are not to get out of bed until Madam Underhill checks you out. Dorea, Orion, Abraxas and both of us agreed." Lucretia informed her.

"And who is Heir Slytherin to impinge on my freedom? I am getting out of here." Cordelia muttered.

"We have your clothes here." Lucretia said, "in case you are worried about that."

"I am not an invalid." Cordelia began getting up.

"Sit down lady and she calls me stubborn…" Walburga said threateningly and then shared a glance with Lucretia.

'What are you going to do Burga?" Cordelia said grumpily and began parting the curtains.

'Incarcerous." Walburga intoned quietly.

Cordelia deflected it easily, "You and I both know, I am the better duelist?" She said calmly despite her clear anger. "Lucy, ask her to stop this nonsense." She said pointedly.

"Well, you need to get checked out. You were magically exhausted. You don't know how many owls Dorea and Abraxas made us send to your parents and entire family before they calmed down." Lucretia said logically.

"I am not listening to anybody…" Cordelia began in an annoyed tone and was moving ahead.

"Because I happen to be a heartless and reckless bint who does not care about assuring her loved ones of my well being before I trot off to wherever I please." It was Tom who completed her sentence.

He received a stinging hex which was absorbed by a shield. He gave her a deadpan look.

"I am not a bint." She said pointedly.

'So you agree with the rest of it" Tom asked conversationally with a straight face.

"I can handle myself, okay. There is no need to fuss over me. I feel fine and I am training to be healer, I know that I am fine." She said insistently.

"Yet it did not stop you from acting like an imbecile when you were not fine last night." Tom said sharply.

"I am not imbecile, you arrogant prick." She gave back, "I needed to take Dumbledore down or have Hogwarts as an unsafe place. Dippet is good but he trusts Dumbledore. If I had not persisted, Dumbledore and the perpetrator would be going free."

"Even at the cost of your life." Tom said softly. The others were watching.

"No" She said vehemently, "I know my powers and I know my limits. I went on because I knew I could deal with it. For Morgana's sake Tom, calm down."

"You won't do it again." Tom asked.

Cordelia was not sure what he was asking but she didn't have to answer as Madam Underhill came and put her on bed and started to throw spells.

'Everything seems fine. You are in a healthy shape." She finally declared.

Cordelia stuck out her tongue to Tom, who shook his head with a small smile. Madam Underhill saw the exchange but said nothing, instead, "Then I will be expecting you in the infirmary on the weekend, Ms. Black."

Cordelia nodded happily.

All her family begun fussing over her but in the chaos her eyes met Tom's. She gave him an assuring blink and he just nodded.

* * *

 **Addressing a few issues:**

 **Regarding the recent updates. I have been really, really sick. I have Chronic Migraine and I was just were in a very bad state. So, some of the stuff was unedited, not proofread etc etc. And I apologize. Really Sorry. It is a miracle that I was able to update at all. I did not want to let you guys down.  
**

 **I have also not been able to get back to reviews. I tried but I lost track of who I responded to in pain.**

 **I am also contemplating about having a Beta. But I want to get better before I decide finally on it. So, the arc after Christmas might be Betaed.**

 **BIG Debate: Siddhartha. One of the readers quite astutely pointed out a side that I was not able to see yet. You all are here for Tom/Cordelia and not Cordelia/OC. But as I said earlier, the possibility of the arc in which Siddharth lands is third phase of the story. I only plan to write and complete the first phase. Even if I do write the third phase sometime very late in future, Sid will not be paired with Corrie. They will be good friends.**

 **Tom/Cordelia: When will they become official? It is going to take a few chapters. It is a very slow that's okay. :)  
**

 **Please Review.**


	21. Chapter 15: The Feminist Stance

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue"**

* * *

 **Chapter 15: The Feminist Stance**

 **Tom's POV**

"Absolutely not. No, I don't care what Ms. Underhill said about your health. You will be sleeping, not watching over me." Tom was arguing very strongly against Cordelia.

"I have work to do. I slept enough the last night." She said very patiently, looking through some documents while sitting in Tom's study table in his room.

"What work could you possibly have? You even asked Burke about the assignments of the first month of second term and we both finished them a week ago. The Goblins agreed for a meet for the inheritance test and everything is in place and I don't know what else you could have in mind." Tom argued back.

'Not that work. I have to find who cursed Charlie!" She replied back, again very patiently.

"Then I am going to stay up with you." Tom said stubbornly.

"I am going to meditate and look and re-watch my memory of the match over and over again until I find something. You cannot do anything." Cordelia pointed out.

"That's all?" Tom asked.

"No, I am going to look through the Hogwarts charter, look at the spell again, search laws, make sure I have a rule in hand that can keep Dumbledore at bay and stuff. But it does not matter, you did not sleep last night as you were keeping watch over me and you are sleeping tonight and that is final." Cordelia was talking to him like he was a petulant child and he did not like it one bit.

"Don't talk to me like that!" Riddle snapped.

"Like what?" It had no effect on Cordelia who did not even look up and continued swifting through her parchments.

"Like I am a bloody, stubborn and petulant child, Lia. We both know that is you." Riddle was now angry.

She finally did look up, but there was a soft, surprised expression on her face, "Lia?" She asked.

And then Riddle realized what he called her in in angry moment and he looked sheepish and slightly flabbergasted, "Well, you yourself said Cordelia is a mouthful."

When she did not say anything, just stared at him, he added, "And I was thinking last night. Corrie is too plebeian." he trailed off.

"I like it." She muttered softly, "but that does not mean that you get to stay up! On the bed now. You can stay up tomorrow night if you want to." She said strictly.

"I just asked you not to treat me like a child." Riddle said irritably.

"Well, I will treat you however I please and as your behavior deems. In this instance, you are unnecessarily being stubborn." She prompted.

"Am I then to understand that you will be sleeping tomorrow night and not working?" Riddle asked in a dangerous tone.

"Yeah, I will be sleeping part of the night. I have the whole day to work. Like I will sleep at around 4 in the morning tonight as well." She said, again distracted with her papers.

"Ahmm, you won't stretch yourself?" Tom questioned.

"What is with the inquisition?" She patiently asked.

'Well, it is not as if you almost died." Tom said sarcastically and a little angrily but Cordelia could hear the slight fear and insecurity in his voice.

"But I didn't." She replied softly, "Tom, I know what I am doing, just like I knew what I was doing at the match. I knew that I could manage the magic and I know that I can manage without a little sleep. Trust me on that, will you?"

Tom sighed. He didn't argue but he very noisily went to bed, almost stomping his feet.

Cordelia hid her grin at his petulant act, but shook her head and reverted back to her papers.

 **Tom's POV**

"What are you looking at the papers for?" Tom asked, "And how did the meditation go?" It was the breakfast next morning.

"The meditation went well. I think I have clues. I could not believe I did not see the connection yesterday." Cordelia said, again distractedly, then looked at him, "6 o'clock, Room of Requirement." she whispered the last bit.

"What for?" Tom asked.

"Animagus."She murmured back.

He gave her a questioning look.

"I am not putting a hold on our plans just because somebody decided to attack Charlie." Cordelia said, giving him a look. He nodded, looking slightly surprised and touched, and then he took a glance at her papers.

"You are looking at rules on how to drag an heir of the Ancient and Noble houses to the Wizarding court?" Tom asked in disbelief.

"To be technical, a minor heir." She murmured back.

Tom was wrapping his head around it.

"Tell you in the room." She murmured swiftly as she saw her cousins approaching the breakfast table.

 **Cordelia's POV**

"Oh, this is a bit freaky." Cordelia muttered looking at their transformed paws.

It had been her who wanted to be a panther and Tom who thought about being a wolf. She had made enough jokes about him being the Slytherin king and Alpha. Tom had not been amused.

She had a black coat, with thick claws at the end. Tom's coat was a dark gray mixed with a little white.

"I can't believe we managed to transform our one arm in under a month." Tom murmured back, looking at his arm, flexing his paws and claws.

"Well, we are special.' Cordelia said in a chirpy voice, but she closed her eyes, focusing and her human arm and palm were back in under a minute.

Tom did the same, flexed his fingers and sighed. 'Why were you looking at the legalities?"

"Well, in the spur of the moment, we forgot the most plausible candidate for the confounding." Cordelia said, "Renatus had a spat with me over Heir Potter and the next thing, Charlie gets attacked. Too close to be coincidental." She got up.

"You mean a spat with us." Tom corrected.

'Technicalities. He had nothing against you until you decided to support me." Cordelia pointed out.

"He does not actually willingly follows me, you know. He is not 'devoted'. He is playing a game. It will not take him a blink to change his loyalties and priorities." Tom pointed out.

"Going against you does not benefit him in any way right now. He will do it someday but not right away. You should not give him excuses to give up your cause by siding with me." Cordelia pointed out astutely.

"You are more important than him." Tom murmured in a very low voice, but Cordelia heard it.

She gave him a wry smile and whispered back, "You are more important than both of us. We should focus on you getting a leverage, not on my or his vendetta against each other. I will go after him, you need not be a part of it and getting him is a priority but getting you your title takes precedence. I will not let anyone, not even you, jeopardize it. You are not to be a part of any action that I take against him." Her voice got a little louder after her first sentence.

Tom rolled his eyes and Cordelia gave a full blown smile at his reaction. She bit her lower lip and shook her head.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

The Court meeting was in procession.

Tom and Abraxas had approached certain key members beforehand to have ample support when they decided to bring in the women into the court.

Zabini, Burke and Flint had not been difficult to convince. They adored Cordelia and both Burke and Zabini had been impressed by Dorea's work as a liaison to the court .Titania was also a part of their study group and they valued her similarly, majorly because of her knowledge of her native magic and her belief in it. She understood the plight of the dark. She did not like that her magic was banned simply because the Ministry did not understand it.

Rosier was next. He respected Tom and Tom thought that he had a soft spot for Cordelia but not quite like Burke, Zabini or Flint. He did not quite understand it but even though Rosier had pegged Cordelia as a Hufflepuff, he seemed to respect her a lot. He was in too.

The rest of the court was fairly divided. Avery was scared of Tom, but he got along well with Zabini and Alphard so he would not protest.

Carrow, Lestrange and Parkinson were going to be very difficult. He expected them to throw fits.

He was not quite sure about the stance of Travers and Nott. They liked and respected Cordelia well enough but not the kind where they would tolerate her presence in official capacity over them. He did not think that it would suit their egos well, but he was a bit perturbed by the casual way Travers had referred Cordelia by her first name, so he was not sure. Pucey and Montague's opinion would not carry much weight.

But Tom still had majority in his favour and there was also the fact that they were scared of him. He did not want to quite use the latter one. He agreed with Cordelia, he needed to be very subtle and cautious in how he asked things out of his courtiers.

Well, it was all going to resolve in the next hour.

He took a deep breath and interlaced his fingers and looked expectantly at the rest of the court and gave a half smile that promised trouble.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

Tom's eyes met Cordelia as Zabini argued back and forth with Renatus. She looked amused. Carrow was butting in and Orion and Abraxas were putting their inputs to Zabini's arguments.

"This is a ploy of the House of Black. You just want the control by the means of court." Parkinson spat.

"As the heiress of the House of Black, if I may?" She said softly.

Parkinson glared at her. It did not deter Cordelia who used the small silence to add her bit," The House of Black is indeed a large family. We are a lot of cousins and I daresay that all of us, including Dorea and I are accomplished sufficiently to be part of the court. As for the need of control, we do not need it. We have it. I think it is prudent to remind you that House of Black has seven seats in the Wizangomat and is the oldest house in it as well. As for Hogwarts, we are the leader of the seats of governors from the dark faction. We also have numerous alliances in all factions. I do not see how we could gain more control. Heir Slytherin is independent of the House of Black. He will have our aid but all the House of Black wants from him is a structured and systematic strategy and action to stabilize the footing of the dark and I do not think that anybody in this court does not wish that."

They were stumped.

"I still do not see why women need to be a part. They need only take care of the household and are no way as accomplished as men." Carrow said, his eyes half droopy.

"How many Owls did you get Heir Carrow?"Cordelia asked.

"7" Hew replied haughtily.

"How many languages do you speak?" She asked.

He just glared, "I only need English."

"Dorea got 10 Owls, including Political theory in which she got an O. She speaks three languages apart from English; Latin, French and Portuguese." She replied back, her tone neutral.

Carrow just sneered.

"How does that make you eligible for it?" Parkinson asked, a snooty expression for it.

It was Tom who took the stage, "She is at par with me Perseus which is why Cordelia will not be merely a part of the court. She will be running it with me." Tom threw in his two shillings. He had been waiting for an opportune moment to declare that.

There was a stumped silence. Those who were in with the idea were calm and happy. Those who were not appeared confused.

"You are taking it well, good." Tom ignored the period of confusion and said without preamble. "Moving ahead…"

"If I may?" It was Nott who interrupted him.

He and Travers had confusion. It had resolved in Travers' eyes but Nott still looked perplexed.

"Yes Nott, speak your mind." Tom said patiently.

"Why?" Nott simply asked.

"I will take the question if you do not mind Tom. If we, the women, need to work with them, then my justification should be as good to them as yours." Cordelia requested softly.

Tom looked at her. She was taking charge readily for the first time, perhaps because she realized that this acceptance was bigger than her.

"You are free to disagree with me but I request you to let me finish before you ask questions or dissent over my or Tom's logic." Cordelia addressed the men.

Most nodded. Parkinson and Carrow sneered.

Cordelia just gave a sardonic smile to them.

"Please name the founders of Hogwarts. One of you." She asked.

They looked perplexed. Even the ones that were in on the plan.

"Salazar Slytherin" It was Rosier who spoke.

Cordelia nodded.

"Godric Gryffindor" Alphard spoke, his expression filled with doubt.

It was Abraxas who spoke with more resolve and pride, "Rowena Ravenclaw."

"Helga Hufflepuff." It was Tom who completed the list.

"Two men and two women. They together made Hogwarts. Rowena Ravenclaw was responsible for the runic wards in the place. Helga Hufflepuff bred the Forbidden forest as a safeguard for the Castle. Salazar concocted the mortar that fixed this place and designed the castle and Godric Gryffindor was the strength, responsible for the fortifications of the castle. They worked together and that is how Hogwarts came to be. Not men alone, but women and men. I know that Gryffindor and Slytherin far outrank the other houses in popularity. That reflects how our society views women. Women are present but not necessary. Both Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were matrilineal lines that died because, because the world eventually would not view women as competent or equal to men, even though they were in the same position at some point.

"I am not going to point fingers. I probably cannot even do a proper genealogical analysis of how it happened. How women lost their..? I don't even know what to call it. Every term is vague because the tongue we speak was created by men. I, as a woman, find it somewhat limiting to communicate in a tongue that was not meant for me. But yes, women once held power. That should not be the reason why you let us be a part of court. You should let us be a part of the court because men and women collectively are called humans.

"Even if we were not powerful in the magical past, even if Hogwarts was not created by two of the best magic wielders the British Wizardry and witchcraft knows. You cannot give us power, because it is not yours to give. We have the power as we had it since ages and we are choosing to exercise it after a long time. It is time that that we be represented in choices and decisions that affect us.

"There is nothing that differentiates us from Wizards, apart from anatomy and that does not affect our magic in the slightest. Neither does it affect our will to utilize the magic or our intellect. It is just that over the years women have been forced to think about themselves in a certain way. And I personally refuse to see myself that way.

"Throw me a challenge, I will best you in any magic you want me to and even if I could not, you don't have any right to take away my rights because I am a magic wielder, I am someone, just like you. And I say that you need to hear me, not just when you need me but on the onus that I exist.

"This might sound novel to you, but I, Dorea, Titania, and the others in the house are living, breathing creatures with as much brains, magic and hearts as you do. The court's decisions affect the house, a house that includes women and _we will_ partake in the decision-making. Be prepared to hear us and work with us." Cordelia said.

There was a long silence. Her speech, monologue had silenced and shocked everyone, even women.

Tom's eyes held pride, 'And that is why they are working with us and Cordelia is working over you."

"I invoked the example of Hogwarts because men and women came together to create a symbol, a meaningful symbol and hearth for people who knew magic. They worked together in harmony. I would like this court to function like that. You can express your doubt now. I am sure you have many." Cordelia spoke.

"I am struggling to comprehend it properly but I do not deny that what you say does make a valid point. Women are affected by our decisions. And I think we witnessed that all three of you were a vital part of our plans with Binns. It was in fact your initiative, Cordelia," Travers spoke, "However, not all women are cut out for politics."

"And not all men are adept at it." Cordelia responded, "We need to begin somewhere. No, not every woman will be a part of the court. But they will contribute and they will be recognised for their contribution. We cannot expect immediate change, no, but working with us is a very good beginning."

"Fair enough." Nott conceded.

"Oh, I know it is not as simple as that Heir Nott. I will have to prove myself every day. I accept that challenge. My sisters will have to prove themselves every day and they will. Just remember, nobody asked men to constantly give exams and prove their worth. It is unfair for women, it will be unfair for a very long time but yes, we are implementing practices to make things fair." Cordelia said pointedly.

"I agree." Tom concurred, "There are many expectations that are not just unjust but illogical. For instance, the unspoken rule of not letting women play in Slytherin Quidditch team is illogical and for players like Cordelia, downright unjust. She is good at Quidditch, if I take the liberty to quote you Flint?" Tom questioned.

Flint nodded seriously. Cordelia looked curious.

Tom continued, "Cordelia is easily the best player in the team, perhaps the best quidditch player in Hogwarts. If she were a man, English National team would snatch her in a moment, but they won't because she is a woman. Slytherin would have let her be in the stands because of a rule that does not make sense to me. And I need not point out her brilliance in the field in the last Quidditch match, I believe everyone witnessed it. Of course, Quidditch is a mere example of her accomplishments." Tom eyed all the members of the court.

Renatus looked like he had swallowed something extremely bitter. Tom would need to keep an eye on him. If what Cordelia suspected was true, then her induction in the court would only enrage him further.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

Tom and Cordelia were both sitting in the study in the Cordelia's trunk which was inside Tom's room. Cordelia was sitting on the main table with books wide open on every corner. Tom was sitting on an equally large desk on the side.

Both of them had split the work. Tom was researching on the befuddlement charm and gathering as much literature on it as he could to build a case. Cordelia was researching laws. Both of them had arrived on consensus that she was much better at interpreting and understanding the jargon of pureblood law.

Tom quickly glanced at the clock. It was half past midnight. He sighed and looked at Cordelia. Her expression was dead serious and she was skimming through the charter that was written down at the formation of the Wizarding House of Lords.

"Lia..." He softly called.

Cordelia looked up from the book. Her eyes looked slightly tired but she smiled softly at him.

It was a beautiful smile. He thought he would never get tired of thinking that or seeing her smile.

"What's up?" She quietly asked, shutting the charter.

"Err. Ceiling." He answered in a confused tone, looking up briefly.

She looked surprised, then shook herself with an amused smile, "My bad. What were you saying?"

"How much do you know Travers?" he asked hesitantly, "and Nott?"

"Honestly you spend more time with them than I do but Travers is a decent bloke if a bit dominated by his father. His father is quite hard on him on being the ideal Heir. Nott is logical and shrewd. His every step is very calculated but his heart seems to be in the right place. But what context are you asking in?" She easily replied, thinking and rubbing her chin in between and then resting her arms and head on the desk and giving him a questioning look.

"No, nothing, I just noticed that they call you by your first name and I did not see you socialize with them a lot, so…" Tom tried to act nonchalant.

"Oh that…"Cordelia got up. She stretched and yawned, "It is nothing, stupid patriarchy. Travers is Orion's first cousin. We sometimes met and socialised through our childhood before school. He tried to call me Corrie but I think his father admonished him. Nott is an intelligent conversationalist. He was quite interested to talk to me when he heard that I was moving to Hogwarts and we talked at length in Lucretia's coming of Age. There is no love lost between us but there is no enmity either." She shrugged.

"They seemed partial toward you…" Tom probed hesitantly.

Cordelia let out laughter and threw her head back.

"What?" Tom asked, a little irritation in his tone.

She calmed down, "I am sorry, I did not mean to… sometimes those boys just amuse me a lot, that's all."

"Amuse you…"Tom could not keep his interrogative instinct down. He was feeling very possessive right now. He always had been possessive. There were so few things that he could call his. Cordelia was no thing, and he was not sure that she was 'his' to own but, she was his friend and it was enough that he had to share her with her brigade of family members and quidditch team. He did not want to entertain the idea of any other elements taking her time.

"Like I said, patriarchy. I turned 14. It is the ideal time of courting me. I have been expecting courting proposals in the near future. I have always been on the top of the list of the women that men would like to have as their wife, or as the mother of their children, considering my good looks and raw magical power. Now that I am also the Heiress of house of Black, they think if they marry me, I would defer to my husband and let him take charge of House of black as well which is not going to happen but I am no one to stop them from dreaming…" Cordelia's voice and eyes turned dark.

"And are you going to take the proposals?" Tom asked carefully. He was feeling very angry.

"Of course not. I am not a commodity which they are thinking of in terms of profit." Cordelia snorted, "Even if by chance, Uncle manages to convince me for a match, which is unlikely, he is going to make sure that the Headship of black House stays with me, either by primacy of the House of Black, or some other contractual feature."

"Contractual…" Tom asked in confusion.

"Oh, I forgot, they have scraped the cultural class… Every time a Wizard or witch marries from the old families, there is always a contract that indicates bride price, the terms of the wedding like number and genders of the children they need to bear within a certain time frame, the vaults each spouse would have, the inheritability of it. Marriage is essentially a business transaction that involves people as commodities." Cordelia's voice was bitter, "it is worse for women but it is not much better for men."

"You will tell me if you need help." Tom said seriously.

"I am afraid your courtiers are not going to listen to you when it comes to me Tom…I am too desirable, more so than the favour of heir of Slytherin. That is why Travers backed off today, because he did not want to anger me… He think if he pretends to be compliant with my wishes right now, I would agree to the match when he requests a courtship and later…"She said, her eyes having a far away look.

"I won't let them do that to you…" Tom said heatedly.

"I won't let them do that to me either. I am a fighter Tom. And you need to worry about yourself. As soon as you come out as the Heir of Slytherin, there will be girls and women swarming you, trying to get your attention so that you can court them. You will be in your own nightmare…"Cordelia said pointedly.

Tom's mouth opened but no noise came out. He looked startled and confused at the same time.

"You need to be careful, very careful. You cannot send the wrong signal. There will be plenty of families eyeing the Slytherin bloodline and gold, and they would think that they can get access to it if they marry you. And then they would try to dispose you off because you are most likely a half-blood. Trust me, your end is worse than mine." She rapidly informed as she started moving parchments and books to search something.

"How do you know all this?" Tom just asked. He was lost on words.

"History." Cordelia eyed him, "Real history of the Wizarding World, if only the history of the old families. Limiting but better than their stance on Goblins alone…"She sent him a fleeting smile, "And there are books of course, on courtships, on how to create contracts, passed down from families… The books on courtships have become inventive in the recent times, with new editions coming out to common public, on how to woo your other half…It is quite a riveting and revolting genre of books, but it exists."

She was looking for something, and then she found it, "As revolting as it is, it is useful nonetheless." She tossed him a book, "Read that so that you don't accidentally send a wrong signal to a woman you want nothing to do with. You just need the basics… It is a dead boring read, but we are in a desperate need. If you do not want that, well, we have another option. I know sufficiently about courtships, but my disdain would hinder me in actual 'teaching', if I may use the word.

"Dorea, on the other hand, knows it inside out and has a certain level of regard and respect for it that I lack. If you would not mind, I will talk to her and she can probably do the needful. However, I am not sure if you would be comfortable sharing your 'vulnerabilities' with anybody else, so I would advise you to use the book." She stopped and gave him a look, "And oh yeah, do not be seen with it. You don't want people to speculate about this."

Tom did not say anything. As much as the thing about Courtships was a lot to take in, he still did not like the fact that Nott and Travers thought that they had certain level of ownership over Cordelia.

He decided to mention that.

"Well, I gave them leave to use my name once. If I take my word back without a situation that warrants the rescinding of the right, I would be insulting them." Cordelia said thoughtfully, "That will not make me or the Blacks popular and that has its pros and cons. It might leave me with two less proposed contracts to deal with, or maybe more, but it will also make a sort of pariah.

"I would have difficulty navigating in our world and I do not want that. On the other hand, Cordelia is still formal. Not many people have the right to call me Corrie and it is mostly family. Not even the Quidditch team calls me by that nickname. So, I am not sending a wrong signal by letting them use my given name." Cordelia mused, thoughtfully rubbing her chin and then looked at him, "And only 'you' call me Lia, so there is not much of a problem but misinterpretation on their part, which I can live with it, as long as I can prove my 'innocence' to the society."

"Yeah, only I call you Lia…" he muttered and off a sudden, he was feeling very satisfied with himself. He dropped the quill back in the inkpot and looked up to Cordelia who was yawing and stretching.

"I am going to turn in." She shook her head and widened her eyes to shake sleep away. She yawned again but hid her face under the polite gesture of hiding her mouth as she did it.

"You should…" He muttered. He got up and went to her desk and started to collect stuff, "I will clean up your desk, go change and sleep." He said softly.

"No, no, I can," She began but seeing his persisting stubborn look, she just smiled and put her head back on the desk and said, "Okay… I will go to bed…" She slid back her chair, got up and went out of the study in midst of her own persisting yawing.

* * *

 **Another Update. I am doing much better. Thank you all of you for your concerns.**

 **Answering some general queries: I got some complains about the flow and grammar of the story. I am in the process of getting a Beta but it will only begin from Chapters on Yule.**

 **THERE WILL BE NO UPDATE NEXT WEEK, MOST PROBABLY. I am swamped with work and having migraines does not help. I might utilize the week to go back to the beginning of the fic and correct some grammar issues. Editing is easier than writing for me. There will be no changes in plot, so rest easy. But feel free to go back and give it a read after next Saturday. Next Update: 14/05/2016.**

 **I might change the update schedule to fortnightly instead of weekly but I have not completely decided yet. I would rather take some time to write the chapters than give half-baked stuff.**

 **As always, constructive feedback is welcome. I have grown as a writer in four months of writing this fic. Thank you all for that.**

 **Please Review.**


	22. Chapter 16: The passage

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue"**

* * *

 ** _Previously…_**

 ** _"_** ** _I am going to turn in." She shook her head and widened her eyes to shake sleep away. She yawned again but hid her face under the polite gesture of hiding her mouth as she did it._**

 ** _"_** ** _You should…" He muttered. He got up and went to her desk and started to collect stuff, "I will clean up your desk, go change and sleep." He said softly._**

 _ **"**_ _ **No, no, I can," She began but seeing his persisting stubborn look, she just smiled and put her head back on the desk and said, "Okay… I will go to bed…" She slid back her chair, got up and went out of the study in midst of her own persisting yawing.**_

 **Chapter 16: The passage**

 **Tom's POV**

When Tom went to their bedroom, he was not surprised to see joined beds and Cordelia sprawled on the left side under her Black and cream duvet. However, the way he addressed the bedroom was surprising. " _When had the bedroom become 'theirs'?"_ He silently wondered. He quickly changed in the adjoining dressing room and went and lay next to her.

Her eyes fluttered open gently. He found himself staring at her green eyes. She was staring at him too and then she leaned in, touched his forehead gently, and seemed to be looking at his nose, "I think you are getting the flu that has been running around. Make a stop at infirmary before you start the classes. I think we can stop it from developing. The cold winds in the Quidditch must have…" She muttered very sleepily.

Tom was about to say that is such a case she should maybe stay away from him so that she does not get sick too, but Lia had laid her head on his chest and had promptly shut her eyes and slept off.

He wondered whether she had been talking in her sleep. He gently tucked one of her curls fluttering on her face and towards him behind her ear, lay his one hand gently on the back of her head and closed his eyes.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

Tom was dragging her somewhere. Cordelia was downright worried because dragging somebody like an excitable child was not one of the things that she associated with him. Tom was a completely different person. She did not think that he was acting. He was just too vulnerable and …She wondered if her little care and attention could bring this out in him, then what if Voldemort had not been the heartless bastard that everyone assumed to be. All he had needed was somebody who gave a fuck…

"Are you listening?" Tom's excited and nervous voice came and shook her out of her thoughts.

"Sorry, I was thinking something else…" She politely said, meeting his midnight blue eyes.

"Are you okay? You look slightly shaken?" Tom asked.

"I am fine." She muttered with a small smile even though she could feel her throat burn.

"I found this alcove today." He pointed towards a wall near his earlier practice room.

She went up to it, lifted her hand and knocked, "Looks solid, what alcove?"

He took her hand and took it towards the darker section of the wall…

"It feels like a curved line. That is strange, did somebody carve something there?" She asked, "And this has a round depression."

Tom wordlessly cast a lumos and pointed where there hands were. There, in all its glory was a carved serpent.

"You think…'She did not need to complete her sentence.

"It is not a passage, as far as I could tell. Just an alcove. Maybe you could spot something. **Open."** He shook his head.

The wall went inside and then slid to a side.

Cordelia windlessly conjured two light orbs.

"You have to teach me that one.' Tom muttered.

"Few things at a time, Tom. This is not as important." She muttered.

The orbs flitted ahead. It was an alcove alright, the size of a broom closet.

"Have you found other places locked with parseltongue?"She asked, "I forgot to ask earlier."

'Apart from the Slytherin common room wall, no." Tom shook his head.

"Be very careful. It could be booby trapped or years of locking down might have given rise to some infestation." She muttered.

Tom immediately put a bubblehead charm on both of them.

She pointed to the wall on the left and they began knocking it to check if it was hollow on the other side.

It took them awhile but they had checked all the walls.

"Nothing" Tom said in a depressed tone.

'We are not done yet." Cordelia muttered.

Tom looked at her. She was very carefully eyeing the floor.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Just a feeling." She muttered, "We are not standing on the actual floor. This is uneven. It is caked in dust."

Tom appeared confused.

"Trapdoors." She muttered one word, "Old families loved them. Hogwarts itself in littered with plenty of them. We might be standing on one."

"Or this is just a storage room?" Tom said in a disheartened tone.

"We might be standing on a trapdoor but it might still lead to a storage room." Cordelia said, not coddling him this once. She knew all the parseltongue pathways, courtesy of Salazar. This one did not take them remotely near to the chamber of secrets.

"Evanesco?" Tom questioned her.

"Too weak," Cordelia shook her head, 'Let us try Skurgo. And let us refrain from using parseltongue. What if we accidentally trigger and open the trapdoor and fall?" She said.

Tom nodded.

"Skurgo" She flicked her wand and pointed to one direction. A square patch of clean floor appeared.

Tom sighed and took the other corner.

"We are standing on a coiled snake" Cordelia said when all sides were cleaned and only a large rectangular patch of dust remained in the centre, "See we can spot the tail and the head."

Tom squinted his eyes but he could not see it.

"Don't kill me. I am trying something." Cordelia waved her wand in an intricate pattern, "Skurgo maxima."

The entire floor became clean.

They were indeed standing on a coiled snake.

"How do we open this?" Tom asked.

"The correct question is do we open this?" Cordelia asked weakly, "We could be unleashing something…I think we should consider it carefully."

Tom looked at her, his face troubled but then he nodded, "I know what you mean. What is Slytherin's monster just attacks us..?" He shook his head.

"Animatio revelio Penetro antrum maxima." She muttered.

'A few mice, a couple of rats, an infestation of doxies but it appears to be dying. Nothing else." She muttered a little later, "I think it is safe."

"And also does not lead to the chamber." Tom said dejectedly.

"Hey this cavity might have another opening somewhere. It is a start." Cordelia shrugged, "I think we need to stand outside the coil."

" **OPEN** " Tom hissed once they stood outside the coils of the snake.

The centremost coil begun descending until the rest of the coils followed it in a spiral. It was a staircase.

They exchanged looks.

Cordelia created more light orbs and sent them along the stairs.

"You are not going first, it could be dangerous." Tom stopped her as she begun to step towards the staircase.

She nodded, 'Together."

He nodded and grasped her hand tightly as they both took the first step together. The stairs were wide enough to do that.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

"There is absolutely nothing here. We have been walking for about 15 minutes since the stairs ended." Tom muttered agitatedly.

"Be patient, Tom. I reckon that this is just a passageway, like the other secret ones in the castle, only this one requires parseltongue instead of a password." Cordelia muttered.

"That is a possibility." Tom nodded, his disappointment ebbing away slightly.

A few minutes later.

'This is a deadend." Cordelia muttered.

"Or there is another trapdoor, this time above us." Tom said pointedly, looking above and throwing a large lumos on the ceiling.

"Scalarium appearo." She quickly muttered and a ladder appeared.

"How do you know all these spells?" Tom muttered.

"Household charms. I like learning them even though most people think that they will never be useful considering elves do all the work for us. But they come in handy." She muttered.

Tom climbed up the ladder and pushed the door.

"It is jammed.' He muttered, "Pondus expello." He muttered at the trapdoor.

"Nice one." Cordelia murmured in approval.

He then easily pushed the trapdoor and put it aside.

He climbed out. As Cordelia was climbing out, Tom's urgent voice called, "Stay where you are Cordelia, this opens into the forbidden forest."

"I am coming." Cordelia snorted and climbed out to stare at the thick canopy of the forest.

"It is not a safe time to be in the forest. It is around 10 if not later." Tom muttered.

"We will go back Tom. It is not as if I am asking for a rendezvous in the forest." She said sarcastically, holding her wand steady.

"I was just saying..." Tom muttered.

"We should go before we grab attention. We will come later and try and plot our distance from the school. This is a much shorter passage. If we walk through grounds, it takes at least 40 minutes to get to the edge of the forest and we seem to have gone in deeper within 25 minutes." She quickly said.

"You are right." He muttered, "On both accounts. Let us go."

They both climbed down, Tom pulled the trapdoor stone back in place.

"We cannot leave it like this. What is somebody tries to sneak in the castle? I know you need parseltongue, but still… After the dementors." Tom quickly said.

'You are right. I will ward it. I will need help though." She nodded.

"Show me." He said.

"I will say the incantation but we need two wands. You need to move your wand such that we are creating a helix and we need to go around in the square. It is a fairly simple locking and notice me not ward." She directed.

They both did it.

Then Cordelia begun muttering spells, "Protego horribilis, Concelo essentia….."

Tom muttered a couple of jinxes and curses and placed them as well.

"That should do it." They said together and then laughed abruptly.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

"I saw the aurors in the entrance hall." Abraxas informed Tom and Cordelia as he sat down for breakfast.

"About time." Cordelia muttered darkly, "Dumbledore and Dippet brought up some excuse about weekends and delayed the entire call. Old coot and his gullible master."

Tom hid a smile and Alphard sniggered openly. Abraxas chuckled.

"I will go and see Charlie. You guys have not allowed me outside the dungeons with your watch. You coming, Dory?" Cordelia asked.

"I was with him last night, go ahead. I have an essay to finish." Dorea said distractedly.

'I will come." Tom immediately said.

Cordelia gave him a dubious look but Tom pretended that it was completely normal for him to go to Gryffindor table and greet the Lions. She did not say anything though.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

"Oh, no, it was a well-played plot move. Today is Monday, therefore the Professors can possibly deny us leave from their classes." Cordelia told the lions as they all collectively speculated what Dumbledore could have gained from the delay.

"That is a good point." Sebastian said. Brendon nodded eagerly. Charlie was in deep thought.

"We can always invoke the law regarding obstruction of justice against said Professors." Tom pointed out astutely.

"We can and we will, that is if Dumbledore drops that low. How did Lord Potter take it? I can say that Blacks, Longbottoms and Malfoys are not pleased, nor are Burke, Nott and Travers." Cordelia asked, "Aunt Callidora specifically wrote to me to ask if I could ward yours and Brendon's beds, Ian." She addressed both the heirs.

"He is worried, not as much as mother, but very worried. He almost came to the school but there were two major wizangomot sessions that were scheduled abruptly." Charlie shrugged, "But he is grateful to you. He asked me to pass on his regards and thanks. We are indebted, Cordelia."

Cordelia just made a tsk noise, "I did what my honour dictated. I do not think you would sat idle had anything happened to me Charlie, so stop putting me on a pedestal."

"Mum wrote to me too. If you can put up wards, please do that. She was quite insistent." Sebastian confessed.

"I can. I will do it after classes today, but stay vigilant, stay in groups, even if it means staying with members of other houses." Cordelia nodded and warned.

"Grab hold of any Slytherin if you feel you are unsafe or alone." Tom also proposed.

"Yeah, we can float the word in the house. This is a 'pureblood' cause, Slytherins will be supportive." Cordelia quickly picked on Tom's cue. Truthfully, it would be Tom's explicit orders but the rest of the school was not yet aware of the hierarchy of the school. It was better if it stayed that way until his inheritance.

Tom and her eyes met and their eyes communicated effectively.

"That is generous." Brendon offered.

"This is bigger than any house rivalry." Tom answered.

"You speak the truth, Mr. Riddle." Charlie eyed him gratefully, "This is a grave matter indeed."

Even though Tom and Charlie had seen a lot of each other because of Dorea and Cordelia, they had not spoken much to each other except for the friendly jabbing before the Quidditch match. Tom inclined his head in response.

"Alright, we will meet each other either during the auror interviews, or I will see all of you after classes." Cordelia got up. Tom followed.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

The interviews with aurors and the investigation was a deadhole. There was no way that there could be residual evidence after two days of downpour and if any wand had held evidence, it had long been buried under numerous spells.

Cordelia had not even suggested that Renatus was a suspect, though she had given an account of her day and that had included her argument with Renatus over Charles Potter. She had given bare facts, her tone dry.

Though she had made a snide remark about school's administration and their slow and ignorant response.

The aurors had hung on her every word. The one investigating was the lead auror, his eyes had narrowed when she had mentioned her spat with Renatus but he did not comment or ask follow up questions. He just asked her memory of both the events, the spat and the match and Cordelia readily gave both.

Tom had stayed away from giving an interview, or giving too much information. Cordelia had advised that it was best that he stayed off the spotlight in ministry until the inheritance. Though he had very determinedly stayed during her interview, saying that Abraxas Malfoy had requested him to keep a watch over his cousin. The Aurors had readily bought up the fact that Heir Malfoy had ordered Tom to do something. He and Cordelia had shared a look. She had given him a cool, considering look. He thought she was playing the part of the pureblood heiress, but it still unsettled him. He was so used to her smiles.

As soon as they left, Cordelia had muttered, "I could not insinuate Renatus' name without proof. He is the heir of the house of Renatus. What I had said about Charlie's honour also applies to him. All we have is circumstantial evidence. If aurors had come down immediately and if people in stadium had been restrained where they were, then maybe we could have caught the culprit, but it is a long, long shot now. Damn Dumbledore, and damn this school. It is as if this place is cursed to cause injuries to its inhabitants."

"For some of us, it is home." Tom said in a clipped tone.

"It is home for me too, does not mean that I cannot hope for a safer home." Cordelia said lightly, "I did not mean to…I did not mean to insult Hogwarts. You do not realize how much it has come to mean to me in three months, definitely more than Beauxabatons came to mean to me in three years. I just do not like it when my loved ones are in danger. Whatever the reason might be, I have seen people get hurt here and I have seen the faculty stay silent about it. I have seen bullying and I have seen cruelty and I don't like seeing that in my home, our home. Dementors, Homicidal classmates, I don't think I want the list to grow any longer." Cordelia said, looking at his eyes.

Tom sighed, he put his hand on his eyes and shook his head, "I did not mean…I did not mean to…" He gave a helpless one shoulder shrug.

"I know. However it is, it is our home. And nobody likes to be told that their home is bad. I should have been more tactful with my words. I apologize." Cordelia said immediately in a tone of regret.

"You know, I am not an Erumpent Horn Lia. I should have understood. Stop taking blame and accountability for everything." Tom said sharply, "I am not that bad in controlling my anger. And if am, I should learn better control"

Cordelia hid a smile, "Very well. I concede, you should not have misinterpret my words. Your fault." She poked a finger in his chest.

Tom's face split in an involuntary smile and he rolled his eyes, "I apologize, Heiress Black."

"Well Heir Slytherin, I accept." Cordelia inclined her head playfully.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

It was evening and Cordelia had ventured into the library. She was hoping to find the records of the books that Lestrange had withdrawn and tally the spells in it with the grey befuddlement charm.

She had, as expected, found nothing. She logically knew that Lestrange likely had a very large library in his house and likely had the book there. In fact, she knew that he did because as heiress Black, June had received all the contents of the Lestrange vault. She had kept the books and artefacts but had split all the gold between rebuilding of Hogwarts and establishing places for war orphans.

She would have to examine the contents in her trunk today. She was slowly walking through the library, looking for a quiet place to sit, biting her lower lip slightly as she thought, when her eyes fell on an empty table.

Well, almost empty. Evelyn Adler sat there working on the next essay for History of magic by the looks of the books surrounding her.

Cordelia stopped the trail of her thoughts and her walking and went and sat across Evelyn decisively.

Evelyn got startled and she accidentally shoved her inkpot and spilled the ink across the table.

"Tergeo" Cordelia said evenly and the ink vanished before it did any harm.

"Thank you." Evelyn said softly.

"I think that was my fault more than yours. I apologize for startling you." Cordelia said calmly.

She wanted to help this girl but something about her also annoyed Cordelia to the core. Just like Hermione got on Juniper's Nerves, she reminded herself and without wasting any emotion on it she looked straight ahead.

'We never got to chat. I thought I would break the ice. Where do you live, Ms. Adler?" She asked.

"It is Evelyn." She muttered hesitantly and lowered her eyes.

'Evelyn then. Where do you live?" Cordelia was still giving a business like look.

'Why are you interested?" Evelyn whispered back, but with a little force.

Now, that amused Cordelia, so the girl did have a backbone.

"Nothing, just small talk. I live in France in Black Chateau in country. It is unplottable so I cannot tell you where it is." She shrugged with a little smile.

"I lived in Wales, but we are moving to London this year." Evelyn replied.

"I did not hear a welsh tongue on you." She asked promptly.

"My governess was a Londoner." Evelyn replied, "before…"

"Before you got the Hogwarts letter…"Cordelia finished, "That must have been a difficult decision for you, considering your affluent status in muggle world."

"How do you know that?" Evelyn wondered.

"I am just observant. Your clothes and your mannerisms gave you away, but who am I lecturing? You are pretty observant yourself, aren't you?" Cordelia opened her book and then looked at her as she passed her final comment.

Evelyn's mouth was hanging open.

"Oh, C'mon Evelyn, what would your mother say? A hanging mouth is unbecoming of a young lady." Cordelia tutted, and then gave her mischievous smile.

Evelyn closed her mouth but she was extremely flustered.

"I am not spying on you, don't worry. I just happen to read Muggle newspapers and your father was featured in the London Times as the new advisor to the Prime Minister. He had an uncanny resemblance to you and in further pages, I also found a family picture. It just made me wonder how your presence at Hogwarts year around is being explained. It could not have been easy. I would have apologized for my nosiness if you were not keeping such a close eye on me and Tom." Cordelia gave her a knowing look.

"What do you mean?" Evelyn gathered courage.

"Believe me, I feel it when someone watches me. Trained myself that way, you see. Even though, you have been discreet. So, I wanted to know what I did to warrant your attention." Cordelia asked conversationally, and added as an afterthought "Beside the fact that I did not erase your memory."

There was a looming silence. Evelyn did not speak and Cordelia regarded her carefully.

"I was just curious. You are unusual, different from the purebloods…"Evelyn said faintly.

"Yet, you have trouble believing my niceness, don't you?" Cordelia nodded.

Evelyn did not say anything but met Cordelia's eyes fleetingly.

"Thought so…" Cordelia said, perusing her lips, "I don't have nefarious intentions. Believe me. I just happen to not belong to this century. It is just difficult to adjust."

"Yes, you are quite forward, aren't you?" Evelyn blurted.

"Now, there is the courage…you have been keeping things from me..," Cordelia said in a sing-song voice.

"I did not mean to…" Evelyn began but Cordelia cut her off, "Relax, Evelyn. I am not going to hold anything against you. Being careful is a necessity and I admit, I am unusual and warrant some observation. You did not commit a crime. I am just annoyed at somebody else and am taking it out on you. I apologize." Cordelia said firmly.

"You found the person who hurt Charles Potter…"Evelyn whispered.

"I know who he is. I just do not have proof." Cordelia said bitterly.

"Can I help?" Evelyn asked, her eyes curious.

"It is a pureblood matter. For your health and safety, I would recommend you to stay away from it right now. But I appreciate the offer." Cordelia shook her head.

"Be careful…"Evelyn blurted.

"What do you know?' Cordelia asked with interest.

Evelyn looked hesitant. Cordelia looked at her patiently.

Evelyn hesitantly whispered, "Lestrange watches you…he does not look happy. I have rarely seen such hatred in someone's eyes."

"Oh, Renatus, he does not have a subtle bone is his body. How did he end up in Slytherin? I am careful. Do not worry and do not repeat this to anybody. I can deal with Lestrange, you probably won't be able to." Cordelia mocked Lestrange and then added seriously.

Evelyn nodded.

For the next hour, as the two girls pretended to work where in reality, their minds were racing. Cordelia was thinking of nabbing Renatus and Evelyn was getting scared at the prospect of what would Lestrange do.

* * *

 **Whoohoo! Another chapter! I have been unable to respond to the reviews. But I hope this is more actions than dialogues (one of you pointed that out, so thanks).**

 **And please, please point out typos and grammatical errors. I try and do not make them but I would appreciate if you helped me correct it.**

 **The first three updates have been reedited, so if you would like to go back and give them a read, do that. There is no change in content but they flow better.**

 **Please Review.**


	23. Chapter 17: The Duel

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue"**

* * *

 **Chapter 17: The Duel**

 **Cordelia's POV**

The first week of December was almost at its end. It was Defence against the Dark Arts. They were going to duel today. Cordelia was very sure that it was Merrythought's initiative to get them interested in the duelling club.

She was itching for a fight. It had been so long since she had sparred with anyone. Her battle hardened self was just jumping at anticipation. The battlelust was hard to get rid of for someone who always remained on edge in matters of security.

Her eyes met Tom. She gave him an unreadable look. She was mildly angry at him. His minions were keeping an eye of her. His thoughtfulness was appreciated, he was just worried but he made a move to secure her without her permission and that did not settle down well with her.

Cordelia's thoughts stopped when Merrythought said, "Partner up."

Tom was moving towards her but she swiftly turned and looked at lestrange. She did not want to unleash herself on Tom, Lestrange was another matter altogether. The only way he would fight her was if she baited him.

She did not have to start though, Merrythought stepped in, "Cordelia, I think you and Tom are too familiar with each other's styles. Please partner with someone else, so it is a more learning experience."

"Well, then I better partner with Abe." Cordelia played along.

"I think Lestrange would do nicely. Let Mr. Riddle take Abraxas." Merrythought said and exchanged a look with Cordelia.

Cordelia knew what this was, a chance! Renatus had made a ruckus last week when Cordelia had beat everyone in their scores. Something about a puny witch not being able to beat him. Merrythought had deducted points but Lestrange did not learn.

Cordelia was all for it. She had two scores to settle with him. One about underestimating her and one for hurting Charlie.

She ignored Tom's worried look and walked up to Lestrange and said in a low volume, "I believe we have a score or two to settle."

Lestrange sneered. Cordelia just smiled a feral smile, baring her teeth. He looked taken aback. Then, she smiled her angelic smile, "I believe we will take the duelling stand first, Professor."

Merrythought gave her a small smile and nodded.

"Bow" Merrythought instructed as they stood at opposing ends of the duelling stand.

Cordelia barely bent. The lower you went, the more respect it gave. Cordelia did not respect that piece of shit.

She had ignored her cousins and she had ignored Tom. She narrowed her eyes to focus on the figure of Lestrange.

"Begin." Merrythought directed and Cordelia shot, "Expelliarmus."

Lestrange shielded back, sending the jelly legs jinx at her.

Cordelia dodged and sent a loud Impedimenta. It broke Lestrange's shield, but he very swiftly cast it again but her successive Confringo and Expelliarmus broke the shield again.

Lestrange gave her an angry look, which she returned with a condescending sneer.

Cordelia was toying with him. She was powering her spells at one-fourth of her magic. She did not want to end it so soon but the class period was about to end in 2 minutes. Merrythought had insisted on going over the rules of formal duelling, her emphasis on 'we do not duel to kill'. Funny, it had crossed Cordelia's mind to just end it.

She sent a bat bogey hex which had slightly more power which broke through his shield and hit him. Cordelia sent a glacius on the floor and a tickling charm and a jelly legs jinx at him successively and lestrange was sprawled on the floor in no time, looking extremely comical. He was still holding on to his wand, so she could still attack him.

She threw a quick impedimenta which threw him across the room and banged his head on the wall. Unfortunately, the wall was cushioned but Lestrange still lost consciousness at the impact.

She gave a mocking curtsy and jumped down from the duelling stand.

Merrythought had a proud smile.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

It had been a long day for Tom. He had been worried sick, at first. Lia was acting reckless, like a bloody Gryffindor. Her gestures, everything was so strange. It was bothering him.

Then, Merrythought had decided to pin her against Lestrange. He understood the statement that the two women wanted to make. He got it, Lestrange did not respect them and it irked them.

But it was as if Cordelia wanted to fight, wanted to … She was on so much edge, like a bloody erumpent horn, like she would blast if you touched her wrong or said something.

She had ignored him after the class and during it. She had disappeared and had missed Potions. Travers and Burke had lost her as they were tailing her for her protection and he had not seen her since. Dorea told her that Cordelia had come to the dorm while everyone was at dinner and said that she was turning in early and was not to be disturbed.

In her words, she looked fine but angry.

Dorea had advised him to stay away.

"She is irrational when she is angry and I daresay, you lose sight of what you are saying as well." Dorea had said carefully, "It happens to me and Charlie all the time. It is best to give space to each other."

He did not understand where she was coming from. How did Charlie and her example translate to him and Lia? They were courting…and Lia was … Lia was not…He was confused.

He had spent some time sitting in with the members of the court.

Renatus had hidden in his room but the rest were present.

Carrow and Parkinson were still muttering about women.

Alphard had asked them to ask Renatus about Lia's capabilities to beat the shit out of them before they made any further comment on her prowess. He had ignored the collective warning looks of Tom, Abraxas, and Dorea.

Sometimes he really hated the Gryffindor sides of certain Slytherins. But the damage had been done. Renatus would be even angrier about the defeat. What was Cordelia thinking? All this while she had been telling him to be careful with his diplomacy and then she goes and does something imbecile.

Tom was climbing the stairs of the boys dorm, expecting to have a sleepless night since Cordelia would not be there.

But when he entered his room, he was surprised to find Cordelia's trunk put at the side of this room.

He wanted to see her so badly, he pulled his key of her trunk from under his mattress, unlocked the trapdoor to the apartment and barged right in their bedroom. It was bare but he saw that the lamp in the master bedroom was lit.

She was lounging on the bed, with one of her legs hanging, reading from a book. She did not look up even though he was sure that he had made sufficient ruckus.

"Where were you?" He asked finally.

"I thought Travers and Burke would fill you in. We actually did not need to talk about my day, do we?" She said pointedly.

Tom stayed silent.

"Or you did not think that I would realize that there were people tailing me. You should give me more credit than that, Tom…" Cordelia inclined her head. She did not look pleased.

"I did not honestly care if you got to know about it. They were there for your protection, not for any nefarious intention." Tom replied evenly.

"That rhymed." She said carelessly, "I don't need protection. And I think you should have cleared it with me before you made a decision regarding people spying on me."

'They were not spying. They were looking for danger." Tom replied back.

"Since I did not know about it, I am going to go with spying, if you do not mind," Cordelia said bitterly.

"We did not tell you because we were afraid of your reaction. Abraxas agreed." Tom replied.

"What reaction, if I may? How did you think I would react?" Cordelia asked, her eyes narrowed.

"Exactly how you are reacting right now. Defensive and unreasonable and angry for no reason." Tom shot back.

"Then you should have discussed it with me. That is my point precisely. You do not get to make decisions for me. Of course, I am angry. You talk about me having the same abilities as you do yet you do not trust me to make use of them." She shot back.

"It is not about that. You are always careless when it comes to your own well-being. I think the past is a very good witness to that. You can go on and tell people how to protect themselves but you don't follow your own advice. You are such a hypocrite." Tom spat.

"I do what I think the situation warrants. And maybe that makes me a hypocrite, but it does not change the fact that you are a freaking control freak." Cordelia had risen on her knees in the bed.

"And for righteous reasons…Did you see yourself today? You warned me not to rile Renatus, telling me that he is dangerous and you go and do it. You tell me to sleep and you just do not sleep yourself. Do you see the pattern there? Renatus is a rabid wolf, and you just kicked him. You think he will not bite you?" Tom yelled.

"If I let him. As you very well saw, I can beat him." Cordelia said evenly.

"Today was not necessary. It is not about you being able to beat him. You did it without forethought and without caution. He is an important member of the court, Cordelia. You cannot just…"

"Of course, he is a member of your precious court. He insulted me. He hurt Charlie. He is plotting to rob and destroy you. Forgive me, if I dislike him. Forgive me, if I showed him his place. But of course, you do not care about that, Charlie is just a Gryffindor. I am just a witch. We can live with it." Cordelia yelled back.

"Do not spin it." Tom said evenly, "I abhor Lestrange for doing what he did. But you and I both know, there are other rational ways to catch him and make him pay for it. Not disrespecting him or…any other childish…"Tom shook his head.

"Yes, rational ways. One of them would be using court members to keep an eye on him, not on the girl that runs a court with you. He is dangerous, I am not…"Cordelia gritted her teeth, "But no, you had to spy on me."

"Maybe because I can let Renatus run loose…." Tom began.

"See.." Cordelia slapped her palm on her thigh.

'For Morgana's sake, Lia. Shut up. I can let Renatus run loose but I can't lose you. Did you think of that? I don't care if I catch him if it means losing you or seeing you hurt. Seeing you bedridden once was enough. I can't put myself through it again. That is why members of the court were tailing you because you are more important.

"And you don't see that. You just see some goddamn big picture, where nobody is expendable but you. And I refuse to look through your lens because I can't see you hurt." Tom shouted. His magic begun reacting. The entire room was shaking. His face was distorted in a furious frown but he looked so vulnerable.

Cordelia swiftly left the bed, "Tom, I am fine. Calm down. Calm down…Easy, breathe. I will listen to you, calm down…You will hurt yourself and me…" She started rubbing circles on his chest.

Tom's shoulder sagged, his magic stopped revolting and he wrapped his arms around her, 'I am sorry."

She hugged him back, her arms linked across his neck, and occasionally sliding down to his chest, 'Shhh, it is okay, we are fine, and I am fine…"

"I can't see you hurt," Tom muttered, pressing his lips to her hair, tears erupting from his eyes. His speech slightly incoherent.

"You won't… I will be fine. Jeez Tom, talk to me if it bothered you so much. I will listen to you. I will always listen to you," She muttered.

"You put yourself in danger…"He began.

'I will have to, sometimes I will have to…I cannot sit on sidelines. I cannot put other people in harm's way. I am like that. But I am also reasonable okay, so next time you think I need protection, talk to me instead of doing something behind my back. I hate being patronised." She looked at him.

"I was not patronising you." He mumbled.

"Well, I read it wrong, didn't I? I make mistakes too, I am not infallible. I hate being kept in dark. So when I saw them, they are not at all subtle by the way, when I saw them I was so angry. I just wanted to prove that I could do things without your approval…And bashing Renatus felt good, and yes I wondered if it was worth it but I was so angry…angry that you did not think that I would be reasonable." She muttered.

He did not say anything, he just pulled her close and tightened his arms, placing his forehead on her head.

"I was worried. You sometimes become so focused on helping others that you do not see what you are doing to yourself and I hate seeing you hurt, so I thought that it would be harmless if the guys kept a watch on you. I took an oath and everything, anything they learned could not be used against you… and they were to let you be independent and only intervene…should something happen." Tom was rambling.

"I understand, I am sorry, I overreacted…"Cordelia muttered.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, just wrapped around each other.

"I should have asked you or at least told you. I am sorry." Tom said seriously after a bit, looking her in the eyes.

"I agree to that but it is okay, you were looking out for me…"Cordelia nodded, "How about the members continue what they were doing but instead they walk with me instead of hiding and whatever they were doing? I won't travel alone to be sure. I can have escorts everywhere. I do not use the public bathrooms anyway…Just let me know that they are there. And can we have a list of preapproved people because I do not trust Carrow or…"

'Do you think I am dumb that I will put Parkinson or Carrow on watch on you? They would likely raise the wand themselves." Tom said, his tone offended.

"I was just saying…"Cordelia could not help but smile at his indignation and buried her head in his chest.

"We should sleep. I am exhausted. And you look dead on your feet despite your argumentative self." Tom said after a comfortable silence.

"I am not argumentative." The fire in her eyes returned as she looked up to his eyes.

"Of course, you are not." Tom said mockingly, shaking his head, 'but you did not deny that you are dead on your feet, so we are sleeping."

The fire in her eyes ebbed away with sheepishness. She nodded, "Let me clear this room up. You can go and change. See you in bedroom?" A curious look in her eyes.

Tom just nodded.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

That night Tom woke up, not because he had a nightmare. He seldom had them when his hands were wrapped around Cordelia. He woke up because the petite body in his arms was trembling and shaking. He opened his eyes and saw Cordelia literally writhing painfully in his arms. No sounds escaped her. Just writhing. Tom was instantly reminded of the effects of Cruciactus. He changed his thoughts at the painful wrench in his heart in imagining Cordelia under that unforgivable. He was about to coax her into waking up, when she detangled herself from him, lay straight on the bed, still convulsing. Before Tom's extended hand could reach her, she opened her eyes, let out a bloodcurdling scream, closed back her eyes and started falling back, Tom caught her and put her head on his chest.

He was utterly confused and very concerned.

"Lia…"He murmured after much thought, "Lia..." Softly coaxing her awake.

"Hmmm…" Cordelia slowly opened her eyes, seeing the fear in his eyes, her eyes opened widely, "Did you have a nightmare?"

"I did not, you did…" Tom slowly said. At her utter confusion, he immediately filled her in.

She just sighed, "It was not a nightmare…"

"What are you implying?" Tom's voice was irritated, "I know what I saw."

"People usually remember nightmares, Tom. What you saw was real, just not a nightmare. It was probably a sleep or night terror. It usually happens to children. Very rarely in adults."

"You are not an adult." Tom pointed out.

"I am not a kid either." She muttered back.

Tom sighed, "What is a night terror?"

"Like I said, it is rare in adults. When it happens, it is usually an ill effect of mind arts. It does not happen to everybody, it just happens randomly. Some people say it happens to people who try to bury their fear deep in their unconscious using mind arts, but there is no evidence of it so far in research, partly because people do not volunteer to get their mind invaded. Department of Mysteries is working on it but their policy is not to publish research until 20 years of its prime. And they don't prefer to publish it even then. There are mind healers and they study it from the perspective of Healing, but night terrors are not dangerous. People do not even remember having them. Most of them only realize it once somebody who saw them tells them. It is not a big, medical issue, so it has taken a lag in terms of priorities." She told in her 'teacher' tone.

"So, how do you know about them?" Tom was curious and Cordelia instantly looked guilty.

"Don't get mad…"She began, "this is, as far as I know, my second case. I had one in summer. Cherry saw me. I went back right to sleep like I did tonight without realizing it. I researched them then. But it never happened again and as I said, it is not a troubling issue, so I did not make a fuss."

"Of course, you did not…"Tom said knowingly, "What are you suppressing?"

"Do not start Freud with me. That person was high…I am not suppressing anything…I think it might be…"She trailed off.

"What?" Tom promptly asked.

"There is something in the Black blood." She said slowly.

"I have heard about the mad Black blood. Looking at Alphard makes me believe it." Tom said nodding.

"Not that, this one only affects women." She said slowly.

"Are you okay?" Tom's voice was wrought with panic.

"It is not a bad thing." She said quickly.

"What is it?" He asked.

"I can't say…because I do not know. All I know is there is something in my blood. I inherited it. It is not bad. I also know that I did not know this when I was ten or I was 12, I just knew it when I woke up on my 13th Birthday. Ever since then, I get up from sleep and I know things. Spells, obscure potions… I have been researching into it…but nada…"She muttered.

"And you never brought this up, why?" Tom asked.

"Because I sound crazy! I did not think I would be believed." She said in exasperation.

"Lia, we are shape shifters, I am the long lost heir of Slytherin, we can speak to snakes, and we constantly perform magic... I think we can take a leap and believe what you are saying…" Tom said seriously.

"You do not think I am hallucinating or…."She began hesitantly.

"No…no…" Tom said vehemently, "Why do you give yourself so little credit Lia?"

"Because people give me less credit?" She said weakly.

He sighed, "Why did you not tell me? I do not give you less credit."

Cordelia was struggling, "It, the sense, also tells me that the less I tell you, for now, the better. We are not ready, I am not ready to come to terms with it. I will tell you, but I need to figure it out for myself first."

Tom did not look happy, "If that is it, then fine. You will come to me if it gets out of hand and if it is bothering you." He said in the end, though.

She nodded.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

As they both lay on the bed again, Cordelia's mind was racing. She knew that the night terror was not because of her Black heritage.

Her black heritage was the blood of a child of magic, passing through the main line of House of Black. She had received it in heritage from her grandmother Dorea. It was because of that she was in this dimension today.

No, the night terror was likely in remembrance of Cruciactus Curse from the memories that she had blocked.

Her barriers around those memories were flimsy. It would break. It would break sooner than she thought. But she planned to have done most of her work by then. She could deal with the mess once her job was done.

With those thoughts, sleep embraced Cordelia.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

"I found another." Cordelia's excited whisper in the Care of Magical Creatures pulled Tom out of his thoughts.

"Huh, so did I." Tom responded, immediately pulling her aside.

"Where?" They asked together and then laughed.

"You first." Tom immediately said.

"Near the Transfiguration classroom. There is a mural and snakes are hiding in it. I heard them hissing. I did not open it because it would have gathered unwanted attention." She whispered back.

"Mine is in dungeons, a coiled snake around the Potions lab." Tom muttered.

"That would be what 4 passages in a week." She whispered back.

"Riddle, Black, hands on the meat. Feed the animals." Professor Kettleburn barked.

"Yes Professor!" They both said promptly.

Cordelia moved towards the food bowls and picked one thick stack of meat. '

Tom followed.

"But none of them go to the chamber," Tom said mournfully.

"We have not even checked these two out yet, Tom. Don't be a wet blanket." Cordelia muttered back, as she threw the meat to the hippogriff courtyard. They were having a revision class on them.

Cordelia was secretly wondering what was with COMC Professors and their love for hippogriffs.

"I just know that they aren't," Tom said forcefully as he threw a stack of meat.

"Not grand enough locations for you…" Cordelia asked knowingly.

"Well, that… and my hunch." Tom admitted.

"Faster…" Kettleburn barked.

"Oh my Morgana, that man has got lungs." Cordelia muttered unhappily, "I am pretty sure that the hippogriffs are annoyed by all this throwing of food. It is disrespectful."

"I will take your word away from it and stay away from the paddock," Tom grinned.

"I really would. It nearly took Finnegan's hands off." Abraxas muttered, joining them from the side. "You should tell him now." Abraxas nudged her.

"Oh yeah, I keep forgetting." Cordelia quickly scourgified her hands.

"What now?" Tom's expression was a bit guarded.

"Nothing, just updating you on winter plans." She quickly said.

"When did Abraxas became privy to them?" Tom was looking at the Malfoy heir.

"I don't know anything except that she wants you to stay with the Malfoys during the break and only because I received a missive from father an hour ago. I have not had a chance to talk to her." Abraxas said pointedly.

"Lia, I thought I said no adults," Tom whispered heatedly.

"Relax….Uncle Hyperion knows nothing. Not even your name." Cordelia placed a hand on his chest calmingly.

"Explain." He demanded.

"I withdrew your name from the people staying at Hogwarts for Christmas' list. We need you outside to do what we planned."

"Which I know nothing about," Abraxas said pointedly.

'Shut up Abraxas, you do not need to. Now shush and go away. Not a word to anyone." Cordelia gave him an annoyed look.

Abraxas pretended to lock his mouth and threw away the key and walked away.

"Relax, relax, you are safe. I was earlier planning to have you stay at an inn but that exposes you, so I figured I needed a back-up plan. I made uncle Rion swear on his magic that he will not ask me questions about you, he would let you stay for the entirety of the break and you will be under his protection. He also agreed to keep Uncle Arcturus out of the loop and the same for my mother. He does not know anything except that we have business together. You probably will not even see him at all before the inheritance happens. And after that, you decide where you want to stay. At whatever properties you inherit or if you want to buy a place. I thought we would take one step at a time. Uncle trusts me. The fact that he wrote to Abraxas is to warn him to expect a guest. He wrote to us via the same owl but different letters. Abraxas asked me and I confirmed that it was you because he was whining too much. It just happened like 20 minutes ago so I apologize." Cordelia made her eyes large.

"And you did not involve me in this because…" Tom trailed off, looking at her pointedly.

"I did not want to get your hopes up. I wanted Uncle to agree to my conditions first." She replied honestly. "You still do not have to come. Uncle is just expecting a guest from our year. He does not know anything. Your middle name is distinct. Even though I have been unable to find anything on it, chances are there might be people who recognize it. I am keeping that under wraps until the inheritance comes through. Also, I insisted that I stay the first half of holidays before Christmas at Malfoy manor to mother and she agreed. So, I and Abraxas both will be there with you and I will bind the Black cousins in an oath before we reach Kings' Cross. I can book a room in an inn if you are not comfortable coming to a pureblood house." She looked at him hopefully with her large eyes.

Riddle nodded at her look, "I will be honoured to be your guest at Malfoy Manor Lia." He said with a small smile.

"EEE," She jumped and wrapped her arms around him. Tom handled her.

"Ms. Black!" Kettleburn's booming voice led Tom to put Cordelia back on her feet.

"He is such a killjoy…"Cordelia muttered unhappily as they separated and joined the rest of the classmates.

Abraxas sniggered. Orion had a booming laugh. And Tom was shaking his head fondly.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

Cordelia was reading a letter with a fond smile on her face. It was around 10 in the night and they were in the trunk study. Tom was still perusing one of the Gaunt books.

"You look very happy. Happier than usual." He could not help but comment.

"Nah, I was just reading Cygnus' letter. Little tyke, he is adorable. Says he is missing me and that he is very pleased that I would be spending Christmas with him. Apparently Walburga and Lucretia ignore him while doing girly things." She replied, shaking her head with a smile.

"You sound fond of him. Even fonder than you are of Abraxas." Tom noticed.

"I guess I am." Cordelia said, "I am the youngest apart from Cygnus. From the beginning, I was determined to hold the Blacks together, not alienate any cousin like it had happened in my father's generation. With others, since they are older, I always thought that if I did fail in protecting them, it would be fine. But with Cygnus, since I saw him the first time, I was determined to raise him away from the Black madness and not just the blood one. I guess a part of me think of him as my baby. And yes, I am very fond of him. I would do anything to protect him."

"It must be…I don't know actually. To care for somebody so selflessly, it almost seems strange." Tom tested.

"That is love. Unconditional, in most situations irrevocable. You can start hating somebody but a part of you will always love them." Cordelia shrugged.

"You say it so easily.' Tom said with a weird smile as if he had trouble comprehending.

"It takes effort, I would not deny that. Loving is not easy. It is messy, it is disappointing but it is also worth it. That cocoon of warmth that you get by having people love you, or care about you. And the protective surge you feel for them, just because they exist. It is an inimitable feeling." Cordelia said, lost in thoughts.

Tom went rigid at her description. He had felt that, albeit for one person only, and she sat right across him on her desk right now. The warmth and the surge, he had felt both for her.

He suddenly felt overwhelmed. He swiftly changed the topic, 'What were you saying about the mishaps in your father's generation?"

Cordelia's jaw flexed. She did not like this topic.

"One of the things I am most ashamed of. And feel guilty about. There are more than five black cousins in that generation, apart from my father, Uncle Arcturus and Pollux and Aunt Cassiopeia and Callidora. Two more, Marius and Charis are forgotten names. Marius was a squib. He was kicked out of family before I was born. I saw him a couple of time in family meetings when I was young. He is so nice, gentle. He was kicked out, never respected, I have not seen him in eight years. Now my family likes to pretend that Uncle Marius chooses not to come for the gatherings, but the honest thing is that he is unwanted. My father would rather forget him than own up to the fact that we have a squib in the family. His own sister Cassiopeia pretends to be the only child." Cordelia shrugged helplessly "They make him feel alienated, unwanted. He was given a hefty sum of money to disappear. I could not stand the fact that they did to him. When Cygnus was born, he had a dim core. I am not surprised considering his parents are second cousins. I saw his face and I was so afraid that they were going to do to him, what they did to Marius. I could not stand the fact… that they would do this to someone so tiny, vulnerable. They were discussing it like people discuss objects. My cousin, he was…how could they?" Cordelia had tears streaming down her face, "I guess that is when I realized how filthy the blood politics is. I wanted to write to Uncle Marius after that. I so badly wanted to write to him. But I did not know what to say. I never knew him enough to miss him, I just wished to know him, as a person and not the blot."

Tom came closer to her and grasped her hand, "It was not your fault."

"I know that logically. It was out of my control. I would have been disowned had I tried something drastic. I intervened with Cygnus. I called family magic discreetly and I… basically ordered it to protect my cousin, however. And it did. It sat on his core and that convinced my family. He was favoured by family magic, just like I was. So they decided not to take his life." Cordelia wiped her tears.

"Do Lucretia and Walburga know?" Tom asked.

Cordelia shook her head, "I was just too nosy. I was not supposed to know either. My father was against it, probably because of my mother. She has such a kind soul."

"Not kinder than yours." Tom muttered, "You saved your cousin's life even when it was not your job."

She smiled weakly through her tears, "You are such a charmer." Tom just rolled his eyes and started rubbing her palms in small circles. They stayed silent for some time.

"What about Charis? I have scarcely heard her mentioned." Tom asked lightly.

"That one scared and scarred me. She is not much older than us. The youngest of my father's generation." Cordelia said, shaking her head, tears flowing down her cheeks, "She is, to crudely put, barren. Obviously, nobody wants a barren woman. She was also magically not adept, at least not enough to hide behind it. She could not produce children and she was not a prodigy that she could make a career for herself. She was also meek because she was constantly bullied by the elders in the family. Nobody would have married her. To save the grace, they married her to a foreign pureblood wizard, way older than her who already had children and just wanted a bed warmer. They basically sold her as a sex slave to him. We never hear from her. I was too scared to write a letter on my own. That was another instance that left me aghast. How could they treat her like that? " Cordelia broke down, "No one said anything, not even father or mother. I wanted to, I so badly wanted to, but I was so scared. I was just a kid, I could not have taken on the adults without…"

"It was not your fault." Tom murmured.

'How is it not?" She sobbed.

Tom wrapped his arms around her. She was literally sitting on his lap as he rubbed soothing circles on her back and Cordelia was buried in his chest as he murmured, "It was not your fault." He muttered it on a repeat.

Cordelia's sobs died down to quiet ones, and eventually into sniffling. Tom just held her, his one palm encasing her head protectively and the other wrapped around her torso.

Cordelia soon stopped making any noise and Tom still held her until he finally realized that she had fallen asleep.

He just picked her and lay her down on the bed gently. She had already changed into her nightclothes earlier.

Something about her face, he could not resist it but he bent down, hesitated, moved further closer and then backed away, but in the end, he hesitantly pecked her forehead, moving away a ringlet of her hair.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

Tom could not sleep that night. For the longest while, he had yearned family. He did not admit it to himself more or less but he wanted people that he could call his own.

But the talk with Cordelia had left him confused and shaken. Families could be bad, he had known that, seen that. Even somebody as pampered as Cordelia had her fair share of bad family experiences. That made him question the idea of happiness or as he understood it.

He was mindlessly wandering in the apartment in the trunk, He had been staring at Cordelia's face for a long time, and then tried to read the Gaunt book. But nothing worked.

It was when he entered a different room that he actually realized his surroundings. He had been in the room before when Cordelia had been showing him around. But he had never spared a glance to the contents of the room. There was a beautiful piano in the centre. It was gorgeous but that was not what caught Tom's attention. It was the Guitar on the shelf that caught his eyes.

"There you are." Cordelia's worried voice echoed inside the room and brought Tom out of his brooding thoughts.

He realized that he had picked the guitar and sat down on one of the stools there with his hands were on the keys. He did not think it was morning.

When he did not say anything, Cordelia said, "I thought I heard guitar tunes. I did not know you played."

"I don't." He muttered.

'That sounded like playing to me." She said, plopping herself down on one of the stools beside him.

"I was trying to… but I can't. Not any longer. I used to when I was six. I was learning it for the Church choir until they kicked me out. This was the one thing that I enjoyed in that hole. One thing. I sneaked to play it multiple times but they would always find me and throw me out. It hurt. And then, one day I just could not play. I tried so hard, but all that came out was a baseless…" Tom shook his head.

"They should not have done that." Cordelia said after a little silence, "They had no right to."

Tom smiled sadly until it disappeared and Cordelia could see a sheen of tears in his eyes.

He hastily shook his head and it disappeared.

"No, no, don't." Cordelia got up and caught his head, "You need to feel Tom. You can't keep blocking your feelings because they are unpleasant. I know it is hard, but you need to feel. Art also needs emotion. Maybe you could not play because you blocked away the unhappiness, the only emotion you were going through at that time."

"I don't want to feel… it is …the dementors…" Tom was stuttering.

"It hurts. I know. And it will, you need to let it hurt, in order to heal." Cordelia murmured." I guess apart from the Occulumency, we should also work on how you can channel your emotions better."

"I don't want to feel," Tom said adamantly, as tears finally leaked out of his eyes.

"You will have to eventually. It is better if you are prepared and dealing with them day by day, otherwise, a sudden onslaught will, it will hurt you more…" Cordelia murmured soothingly.

"I…no Lia…it is difficult." Tom murmured.

"I am not denying that. I will never deny that. But we need to be there for each other, you were there for me earlier. Let me do the same." Cordelia insisted.

"I can't…not….not right now…I cannot feel," Tom shook his head.

"Then we will wait until the day you can and I will be there, even then," Cordelia muttered softly, kissing his forehead and then pulling his head onto her stomach and cradling it. Tom gingerly wrapped his hands around her torso and hugged her abdomen.

"But I want to be the first one to hear you play when you feel like." She said with a mischievous and demanding smile.

"Of course," Tom smiled into her abdomen.

* * *

 **Booyah. Another update.**

 **I decided that I liked the weekly update schedule better, so I am sticking to it.** **J**

 **Sorry about the massive mix up last time. There were no breaks where they were supposed to be (Thanks to gr8rockstarrox for pointing that** ) **. I have corrected it. Go back and read it, pretty please. And give reviews.**

 **This is the second largest chapter in the Story till now. Hope it was not a drag.**

 **I also hope that it is clear that Cordelia is not a complete Mary Sue. She has anger issues and so many other issues.**

 **We will enter an arc that I absolutely love (Christmas), so fingers crossed for that.**

 **And this might be out of character for me, but please, please review. I am highly considering begging right now. You don't know how a small smiley makes my day.**

 **I get fewer reviews than usual, so any mundane thoughts about the fic. Any line you liked, any scene that you liked, please point it out. I work hard on this people.**

 **PLEASE REVIEW.**


	24. Chapter 18: Stupefy

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) This is a gender bender. I will bend gender roles like clay, considering it is based in 1940s. :D

4) Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue"**

* * *

 **Chapter 18 : Stupefy**

 **Tom's POV**

 _There are moments in time when you are forced back to go and relive a time, a happy one, a serene one, and a time when you did not know what that time, what those words would come to mean you. How those words could ring so true?_

" _You will have to eventually. It is better if you are prepared and dealing with them day by day, otherwise a sudden onslaught will, it will hurt you more…" Lia's voice echoed in the hollowness_.

 _Oh yes, damn it hurt. It hurt like it had never hurt before, not even in the dementor attack… It hurt so much, it was as if the pain would split Tom apart._

"Riddle Riddle" Voices echoed. He shook them away. He wanted to hear her, only her.

 _"_ _I will be there." Her voice echoed._

 _"_ _I can burn the world for people that I care about…" Her voice echoed._

 _"_ _Then we will wait until the day you can and I will be there, even then."_

 _But she wasn't here, she wasn't here. Tom wished she were, but if she were, his heart would not be breaking so badly._

'Riddle" Abraxas's voice reached him as he shook tom's shoulders, "Slughorn is calling."

Tom shook his head. Abraxas' face was pale and emotionless, his voice faint.

Tom just nodded.

* * *

 **FLASHBACK**

Tom had skipped lunch in favor of studying the symbols drawn in one of the parselmouth chambers. He was returning back from the seventh floor to the Charms corridor when he saw her. The moment played out in his memory in a slow rewind. The slowest pace where he could see every torturous second last at least a minute.

Laughing, she was climbing the moving staircase with Abraxas, Orion, Burke and Dorea, all five of them were laughing. They were her watchguards. He was standing above already near the classroom.

Her eyes met his.

She mouthed, "I need to tell you something."

Tom shook his head, smiling, and mouthed, "Okay"

"No, really I found something." She mouthed again.

Burke cracked a joke that send her in a fit of laughter. The staircase moved again. Cordelia was standing at the edge, Tom got scared but Abraxas pulled her and she crooned closer to him, thanking him, until she steadied herself.

"Don't worry. I will be fine." She mouthed to him.

Tom has not been thinking that she would get hurt, the thought of her being in danger was at the back of his mind. She was so beautiful.

And as he thought, as he thought…it had happened.

* * *

 **Evelyn's POV**

It honestly appeared to be a scene plucked out of a theatrical tale. So utterly perfect. Their eyes always found each other, like there was something, something else at work, a force that bound the two together. A force that continuously led them towards each other. She could see it in his eyes. Tom Riddle loved Cordelia Faye Black. There was not even a speck of doubt in her mind.

But something about the picture, the scene was off. It was too perfect…and she had this feeling...she had this feeling that this perfect moment was all going to go south.

She knew that wasn't it when Cordelia nearly fall off the edge and Malfoy pulled her. Her feeling lingered. Cordelia was steady, she was laughing, with her head bowed down.

She saw it before Tom did, the red beam of stupefy that hit Cordelia straight in the chest as the stairs were still moving. There was nothing nearby to break Cordelia's fall. All her companions were frozen.

Time slowed and Cordelia fell with her closed eyes, she fell, she fell…. Eve panicked. She saw Tom pull out his wand muttering, "Arresto…" and he was disarmed. And Eve's eyes were searching for the culprit frantically and then she saw and heard the thud when Cordelia's body touched the floor 3 stories down. Her cousins and Burke were still frozen.

Tom had yelled out a loud Lia….his eyes aghast. She swore she had never seen so much pain in anybody's eyes before.

Abraxas was the first to react from Cordelia's entourage, his eyes were frantic, he opened his mouth but no sound came out.

'Somebody help…"Eve screamed without meaning to.

Her eyes went wide as she saw a crimson liquid spreading across the floor right beneath Cordelia's neck and head.

Tom quickly gathered herself. She saw him shutting off all his emotions behind an emotionless mask. She saw him literally run and jump down stairs, barking what seemed like orders to the Slytherins. That was strange. Why would Slytherins listen to a mudblood?

But that thought also flew behind, as she quickly gathered the skirt of her robe and darted downstairs.

"Corrie…"Abraxas had been meaning to pick her up when Tom stopped him.

'We might hurt her more." Tom said sharply, but not without kindness and empathy. His hands were shaking too, as he gently touched Cordelia's face and the blood. But he quickly pulled away. He windlessly summoned his wand back.

He conjured a stretcher and levitated her onto it.

"Shield…"He just said one word and all the Slytherins formed an intricate circle surrounding Cordelia's stretcher with their wands out. They started moving.

'Infirmary." Tom barked an order.

Eve decided to give them space. Her eyes met with Tom and all she got was a frosty stare. He looked so…looked so emotionless.

"I will inform one of the professors." Eve offered. She got a sharp nod in return. His eyes turned softer for a moment before they were back to their composed, unreadable look.

* * *

 **Eve's POV**

Eve scampered frantically, her eyes searching for one professor. She did not want to crash into Dumbledore or into Slughorn. But she was still 3 flights of stairs away from the staffroom and she had spotted no one.

Time was of essence. Cordelia needed help immediately.

There was a killer in Hogwarts and she was in the corridors alone, a useless mudblood. The killer would not think twice before targeting her. She was afraid, very afraid but she was also determined. She would help Cordelia, she would help Tom.

She still did not understand why everyone listened to Tom so much, but that was a thought for another day. She had to get help right now.

She nearly collided into Merrythought. After explaining everything in a single breath, she and Merrythought together rushed to the spot of accident.

It was shielded. All of it and a few Slytherins were watching the place like a hawk, preserving the scene of crime.

Merrythought sealed it further.

Nott filled them that Dumbledore had gone to see Dippet after finding no students in the class.  
Merrythought nodded quickly and rushed to the medical wing with Eve in tow.

Merrythought went on inside to communicate with the Aurors through floo and see the situation.

The outside of the medical wing was crowded. The entire Black clan with Malfoy and Sebastian Longbottom were there. So was Charles Potter. Tom stood recluse, away from everyone, staring outside in the ground from the window. His face was expressionless.

There were other Slytherins, patrolling the corridor. This time Eve was not surprised. She was sort of expecting it.

"It is a good thing that all of us got our owls before Dumbledore got wind of this or he would have tried to hush this too. The Blacks will be here with a brigade of Lawyers and Healers in sometime and Dumbledore won't be able to do a thing. My father and mother will follow." Longbottom was saying.

"Father will be here." Abraxas Malfoy said. His face was pale, but she could see his cool anger.

"House of Potter will be here." Charles said in a resolute tone.

Dorea tightened her grip on his arm and he received a nod from Orion.

Eve could not stop herself, "How is she?" She expectantly and decisively looked towards the Gryffindors in the group.

It was Sebastian who filled her in.

Cordelia had broken her spine and ribs at multiple places. The Blood was from punctured organs that the broken bones grazed or pierced. Her skull had escaped severe injury because of her hair volume. Her magic had sent her in a protective coma.

Madam Underhill was working on her and she suspected that Cordelia's magic had taken the brunt or the injuries would have been much worse.

He was speaking very mechanically but she could feel his voice breaking. Lucretia kept a hand on him before he choked and she gave Evelyn a cold look.

Evelyn nodded and stepped away. She received a sympathetic look from Dorea.

"All of us took oaths…" Walburga said. It was snobbish but not mean. Evelyn immediately took one and received nods.

All of them looked shaken, so shaken.

"If my shield had not broken…" Abraxas muttered.

That was new. She had not known that Cordelia was shielded at the time.

"It was not your fault. It was a strong spell. A Stupefy Maxima. The color was too bright for a simple one," Dorea immediately shook her head adamantly.

Evelyn decided to give them space. They did not need her. It was time for family for all of them.

Merrythought came out and she dragged Eve away. Eve must be inside her common room.

Merrythought could not do anything about the Slytherins as they would not have listened to her at any cost. She had, though, activated Infirmary's wards. Nobody who wanted to harm or jeopardize the medical attention on Cordelia would be allowed to enter.

Eve faintly followed her. She knew she had no choice.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

He spotted them first. The stoic faced, grey eyed man with Black hair and the blonde lady with silvery hazel eyes. Her eyes were puffy. Cordelia's parents.

Just saying her name in his head hurt.

A few more people. Tom quickly placed their names by matching their face and features to their children. Arcturus Black, Hyperion Malfoy, Harfang Lonbottom, Cassiopeia and Callidora Black, Pollux Black and Hector Potter. All of them followed behind Altair and Adelaide Black.

Surprisingly, the Prewett family was missing, even though they had an active contract with Lucretia unlike Charles and Dorea's courtship.

He was ignored. They met their children who filled them again.

Tom tuned out. He did not want to listen to how it happened. The moment was in a loop in his head from the past few hours.

The healers from St. Mungo's were here. They were doing what they could.

She would live. But they did not know when she would wake up or if she would.

Cordelia had been smart. She had made contingencies. Two hours after her fall, an owl from Gringotts had come to Dorea. She was the interim heiress until Cordelia woke up or Arcturus assigned the position to someone else. Gringotts had been able to detect Cordelia's magical coma through her signature.

Even while she was incapacitated, her first thought had been to protect her family.

An owl had come for him too. She had protected him too. He had taken the letter and torn it without reading. He did not want his inheritance. He wanted her, fine and smiling in front of him.

He…Tom's eyes filled with tears, he looked towards the endless grounds.

Dumbledore came with Dippet, Merrythought and Slughorn. There was a shouting match between the parents and Dumbeldore and Dippet. Tom tuned it out. He had no business dealing with….he missed her too much.

She had foreseen that something might happen to her. He did not think so. She would have been more cautious otherwise, but she had been careful to have contingencies in place in case something did happen. Tom's mind and heart were tearing him apart.

The Aurors had stormed Hogwarts, They had talked to everyone. His courtiers had been careful enough to not put him in too much spotlight. They had mentioned him of course, but as a footnote.

He had told what he had seen and that he had been disarmed before he could do anything.

A rude question directed at him brought him back to reality, "Who are you boy?" It was Arcturus.

"Tom Riddle, Sir." Tom replied politely.

"A half blood then, Slytherin does not take the…." He trailed off.

Tom just nodded. He did not want to speak, he just wanted to see her….

"Corrie mentioned him." Hyperion Malfoy caught on, "The boy is no trouble Arcturus. She has him under oaths."

Tom was surprised. But maybe her Uncle Rion had also received a missive from Cordelia post her fall.

They ignored him after that.

He again began remembering her, afraid that if he stopped thinking that everything that she made him feel would slip away from him.

"You cannot move her...not yet. Maybe in a couple of days but not today. She is too delicate." Madam Underhill's loud protest brought him back. He glanced at the clock. It was around 7 in the evening.

They were moving her. They could not take her away, He did not want her to leave. He wanted to see her. He opened his mouth but no voice came.

A warning look from Dorea told him why. She had silenced him.

He was annoyed.

"You mean that you want me to leave my daughter here, alone, unprotected, where a savage tried to kill her and could do so again through the night." Altair Black's furious and emotional voice shook him.

How could he forget? It was not just him who lost his Lia. There were others who had lost her too…

"Students would be leaving. This is a discussion for adults," Merrythought said pointedly, "All of you back in the dorms. We have put up protective wards. You will be informed of what happens from your Head of House. Dinner will be served in the common room."

"Uncle, please put up wards, your own wards around her…."Dorea insisted to Altair as she turned to leave.

Altair Black's shoulders sagged but he nodded.

 **Flashback ends.**

* * *

 **Slughorn's Office**

It was the Black clan, Malfoy and the Quidditch team and him in front of Slughorn who looked sad.

"I thought I should inform you. All of us agreed that Ms. Black will stay here for tonight. She will spend the night in the hospital wing. Her comatose state is worrying but the healers said, it is a healing coma. She will be moved tomorrow. I hope all of you rest easy. She will be taken home tomorrow, regardless of her state and will be treated by Black healers. Your parents do not want you staying here at all. The Blacks and Mr. Malfoy will be leaving tomorrow as well."

All of them nodded.

"Tom, stay back." Slughorn said.

Everyone else left. Tom was immobile, emotionless.

'I understand that you signed up for leaving Hogwarts for Christmas. " He began.

Tom nodded, "I am not leaving now though,"

"I am afraid you will have to. We are closing Hogwarts for the winters. The Boards of governors wants the wards put up as soon as possible. I just wanted to ask if you will be leaving with the Blacks." Slughorn asked.

"No." Tom just said and left the office before Slughorn could say anything.

"Father told me that you will have an escort to bring you to the Malfoy Manor. You will leave the same day as the break starts so as not to arouse suspicion." Abraxas informed immediately as soon as Tom entered the Slytherin common room.

"Leave me alone Abraxas. Thank your father for his hospitality but I will not be needing it." Tom said in a clipped tone and went upstairs to his room where he had been last in the morning with her. He could still smell her and he tried hard to memorize it.

Her trunk was not here today. It would be in her packed luggage. But there was something in his room that had not been there earlier.

That guitar from the room in the trunk lay beside the window with a note stuck on it.

 ** _In the hopes that I hear it soon._**

 ** _Love,_**

 ** _Lia_**

It had not been there this morning. She had sneaked back in…to put this…before...before she fell.

And the tears Tom had been holding in since the day escaped the eyes.

He picked the guitar on a whim and before he knew his hands had found the chords and he began stumbling through them, as he cried, just cried.

He could not believe he had let it happen. He could not believe that he had screamed at her for taking security lightly when she had placed such contingencies at places. He did not deserve her. He wish he could….he wished he could…

* * *

 **Eve's POV**

Evelyn had escaped the patrolling prefects, ducked under several suit of armors, hidden from Dumbledore's eyes in the past 20 minutes in the night to complete her mission.

She was determined to see Cordelia. Determined.

Somehow, somewhere she was blaming herself. She took pride in being observant, if only she had seen this coming.

Cordelia's pale, bloody body had been appearing in her nightmares and would not let her sleep.

She just wanted to see her face before they took her home.

She had not expected someone else to have the same plans as her. But she was honestly not surprised to see Tom Riddle already inside the infirmary wards, staring at the pale features of their favorite person in the entirety of Hogwarts. This did not surprise her. The wards were based on intentions and she had no intentions of hurting Cordelia, she had counted on them to let her in. Tom perhaps had a similar idea.

Eve had friends, other friends, but she had connected to no one as she connected to Cordelia. There was a certain thrill and a familiarity and a sense of belonging when she was around the Black Heiress.

She stayed hidden in the shadows, she did not want to interrupt Tom's moment or startle him.

She did want to warn Tom when she saw the mediwitch approaching him and he stood motionless, staring at Cordelia's face.

She had seen his eyes numerous times. Often they were unreadable and composed. Today, today they were empty like somebody had taken away his everything. Suddenly, she reconsidered, maybe Tom had not even cared about the wards in his whim to see Cordelia.

"I was expecting you, Tom…"The Mediwitch said softly.

Tom's eyes widened briefly and then his eyes went back to their emptiness, " I won't cause trouble, I just wanted to see her…"

"I know…" The mediwitch said, "She loves you just as much, you know. Perhaps more than you know. Talks about you all the time. Tom and I did this. We want to do this. You know Tom has this angry expression…" The mediwitch said with a sad smile.

It did not seem to have an effect on him. He just stared blankly.

Evelyn's eyes then went

onto the object in the shadows which was well hidden from Madam Underhill's sight. A Guitar. She did not know if it was Cordelia or Tom's.

"She will be fine." The mediwitch said after a minute.

"How are you so sure?" Tom asked coldly.

"Because nothing can beat Cordelia Faye Black. I have never met a stronger spirit." The mediwitch said, her expression forlorn.

"I just wanted to say…" Tom began… "She is leaving tomorrow...and I just wanted to say…"

He felt a hand on his shoulder. He made no attempt to hide his tears.

"I will leave you with her then. She is safe. You are safe…Say whatever you want to say…" The meidwitch said kindly and left.

Eve stayed where she was, hiding in the shadows, watching Tom Riddle's tears glistening against his pale cheeks. She did not think that he would appreciate her company.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

Tom tried speaking several times but he choked on his own tears. She would make out of this. He would see her smiling again. Madam Underhill was right. But nothing consoled his broken heart. It just tore his heart to see her like this.

She looked like she was sleeping peacefully. Her features were pale. That was all. Her magic had strained itself in protecting her from the trauma.

All her bones and injuries had been mended. All that was remaining was for her to come out of the coma.

But that didn't matter. What mattered was she had gotten hurt on his watch! His poor, beautiful Lia, all bloodied and broken.

He wished he could, he wished he could travel back in time and prevent it all. But the time turner was in her trunk and her trunk was inaccessible and since she was still lying here comatose, he knew that he did not travel back in time and prevent….

Riddle let out a small sob.

"I feel Lia….I feel so much..I feel I will break apart. And you are not here…what do I do Lia? What do I do Lia?" He murmured softly.

"I couldn't speak….but the music and words flew out of me…" He sniffled, " I wrote a piece and you are not even here to listen to it… Just come back…please come back…I can't…I can't…It hurts Lia…It hurts…I am sorry…I am sorry I was not fast enough…I am sorry I yelled…I am sorry that I was a dick in the beginning, I am sorry I was mean, I am sorry I doubted you, I am sorry I …I am not...I won't do it again. I won't scream...I will just be with you…Just come back…"

He broke down before biting his lips, "I wrote a song for you….Actually I wrote a couple….I am sorry…just come back..." He picked up the guitar and placed his hands on the chords….The words came to him naturally

"Come up to meet you, tell you I'm sorry  
You don't know how lovely you are

I had to find you  
Tell you I need you  
Tell you I set you apart

Tell me your secrets  
And ask me your questions  
Oh, let's go back to the start

Running in circles  
Coming up tails  
Heads on a science apart

Nobody said it was easy  
It's such a shame for us to part  
Nobody said it was easy  
No one ever said it would be this hard

Oh, take me back to the start"

He choked on his tears at 'this hard'…before continuing to sing again, "I was just guessing  
At numbers and figures  
Pulling the puzzles apart

Questions of science  
Science and progress  
Do not speak as loud as my heart

Tell me you love me  
Come back and haunt me  
Oh, and I rush to the start

Running in circles  
Chasing our tails  
Coming back as we are

Nobody said it was easy  
Oh, it's such a shame for us to part  
Nobody said it was easy  
No one ever said it would be so hard

I'm going back to the start

Oh _[x4]"_

He stopped. Tears kept flowing out of his eyes though until his eyes went dry.

* * *

 **Eve's POV**

Eve saw it all. She saw Tom sing, heard his soft, whimpering voice. It broke her heart to see him like that. She contemplated going without seeing Cordelia and not interrupting his moment but she thought he could use a friend and since Cordelia was…indisposed…she should step up.

She swallowed and stepped onto the foyer of the infirmary. Her footsteps made Tom look up.

"I will just be leaving Ms. Underhill…" he said without looking behind to see who is was and dropped his head to see Cordelia again.

"It is not her…' Eve said hesitantly. This made Tom look up again and turn around in a slight surprise.

"I just wanted to see her before she was taken away from here. I guess you had the same idea." She said, gaining a little confidence.

"I do not understand…" Tom shook his head.

"We were sort of friends, ever since the dementors. Guaranteed, we did not talk much but I guess we understood each other. It is hard being a rich muggleborn here, Cordelia understood." She shrugged, "I just wanted to say goodbye, then I saw you, I contemplated going but then I thought I may as well say hello." She answered, hoping that this was what his confusion was about.

"She understood everybody, more than what people expected." Tom muttered.

"She would understand this too." Eve said without meaning to.

When he looked at her, she said, "Your grief, I mean. She was quite intuitive that way, especially about you."

Tom just nodded. He still looked empty.

"Did you see anything?" Tom had to ask, she guessed.

"Not really, but I do not need to. I am guessing that it was Renatus or one of his cronies… She said dismissively.

"Why would you say that? Did Lia discuss..." Tom was curious now.

Oh, that meant Cordelia had not discussed her warning with him.

"I talked to her about him. He has been glaring at her since The Gryffindor match where Potter got hurt. I warned her about it but she already knew. She said she would deal with it and asked me to stay away." Eve was honest. What would Tom do?

"I did not say anything because I doubted that they would listen to a muggleborn." She added, "It is my word against his. And he was very conveniently absent from today's crime scene. Likely lurking in shadows."

"I need to go." There was an urgency in Tom's voice. She could see him thinking hard...

"Don't do anything stupid Tom…She would never forgive me…hell she would never forgive you…" Eve began but Tom had left the hospital wing by then.

"Both of you are so impulsive. I guess you deserve each other," She instead talked to the comatose Cordelia. She stared at her face for a bit, then took a step back.

"Farewell, Cordelia. May you get better soon." She murmured, backed away from the bed and reluctantly looked at Cordelia one last time before quickly walking away.

* * *

 **I am really sorry about throwing such a thing on you. I really am. But it does not change the fact that this is, by far, my favorite chapter. Smiles and Hugs. I think you guys can use it.**

 **Next update will be as usual. Reviews are much awaited.**

* * *

 **This one is a rant so feel free not to read.**

 **I mostly get nice reviews but I received this one really mean review and it infuriated me. I am all for criticism and feedback but it looks like that this person did not even read the story. Since I could not address this otherwise as it was guest, I am going to address it here even though she might not read it ever because I am just too angry and I need to vent and explain.**

 **Review from Lillah: I know you said you'd be writing a mary sue but I didn't realize, until now, how badly you would write her. I've read quite a few mary sue fanfiction stories so I know it is somewhat possible to write an interesting one who's character doesn't seem so fake they might as well be a cardboard cutout of a person. Your Cordelia feels completely fake to me. Where is the suffering from losing everyone she loves? Where is the hatred of Riddle (which I can't imagine her not feeling, past self or not, cause, hello, he killed her parents and was responsible for almost all her suffering in life.) Plus, she's never been the changing/redemption people kind of person. I think your actually writing a female Naruto instead of Harry.**

So, I will be dropping this story. I hope any future stories of yours will be better written

 **Reply: Yes, I said it is a Mary sueish character. Like I have said multiple times, I don't se a problem with it. If you, as much as, read even one interlude or my author notes, you would realize that Cordelia works hard to pretend that she is perfect. It does not mean she is. And there lies a brilliant layering in character.**

 **I am sorry that you feel that she is not interesting enough and that she is a cardboard cutout. For your information, she is cryptic, over-confident, downright obsessed with Tom and has a truck load of issues that get explored in the Interludes apart from her powerful and beautiful depiction. And that depiction is not random too. She is trained by Narcissa Malfoy to be alluring. She has honed her magic for six bloody years. I don't see any resemblance to a cardboard cutout. And as for being a child of magic (not that you discovered that), she has weaknesses, like her anchors. She feels hollow without them.**

 **On top of it, she has two lives to reconcile with.**

 **I don't see how you have pinned the character to be fake. You did not stick much to with the story but my third update was an interlude that explicitly discussed her feelings for leaving behind her whole world. She has suffered and she was willing to suffer for it to come back for Tom.**

 **She does not hate Tom. That is the whole crux of the story. There is a part of her that identifies with him. I am afraid if you came to read a cliché hate turned into love story, this isn't it. And this a bloody fanfiction. I explicitly mentioned that this is an AU. I have reimagined Harry's character, much like I have done for Tom. He is not completely evil as portrayed in cannon. And Harry is not that naïve. She understands that Tom was insane and she is willing to look past it. She blames Dumbledore and other circumstances for her fate. And BTW, this is a 14 year old Tom who has not killed anyone.**

 **If you have a problem with such characterization and imagination, then I don't know what you are doing, coming here and reading fanfiction. You should stick with the originals.**

 **I am afraid that it is your dichotomous view that would create cardboard cutout of perfectly good and perfectly evil characters.**

 **Hello to you too, this is an AU and a fanfiction. She can be redemption type of person. It is my character and I will do what I bloody want with. Again, don't read fanfiction if you can't tolerate creativity.**

 **I don't know anything about Naruto so I don't see how I am mimicking it. But even if I am, what is the bloody issue? I repeat, this is fanfiction. And, hello again.**

 **Yes, go ahead. Drop the story. I would much rather have readers that understand the subtleties of story if not appreciate it.**

 **Just a tip, if you wish to review and criticize a story, please make sure that your tone is respectful and your criticism is constructive. Don't just bash random stuff that you did not understand because of your daftness. It does not help in the least. Another tip, if you don't like a story and you are normally this dense about criticism, consider not leaving a review at all.**

 **Also, I am not normally this scathing and hostile. I normally take criticisms in stride and I have incorporated a lot of feedback coming from people.**

 **If even a small shred of your review made sense, I would have treated it with respect. But I am not because you were very disrespectful. I have also taken the opportunity to delete it because you made me just that raving mad.**

* * *

 **DEAR PEOPLE, SORRY ABOUT THAT. I appreciate the reviews will all my love and care. Please review even if it is a criticism. I will eventually get back to you. I read all of them as soon as I get them. But I just have been occupied to reply to them. :D**

 **NOTE: I don't own Scientist by Coldplay. I just love that song. :p**


	25. Chapter 19: Coma

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances and nineteen years later. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue"**

* * *

 **Chapter 19: Coma**

 **Cordelia's POV**

She felt like she was floating, somewhere at some time. She was just floating. Everything was pain free, everything …she did not feel. It was all good, it was all happy.

She had a bubble in her heart. It did not seem like it would burst. It was a nice bubble.

"June…" A soft voice called.

June, she was called that once. Should she stop, should she follow the voice? Cordelia was confused. The place was timeless. She may as well explore. She raised her hand towards the voice. Somehow the voice was physical and she was sucked into a, sucked into something….

She was a spectator. She knew the place. USA. The vacation. All of them. Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Neville, Blaise, Draco, Siddharth. George could not get away because of work.

She remembered that conversation with Hermione well. They had both sat on seats near the counter of a café.

She had worn a light baby blue summer dress that day that emphasized her tiny waist with a full skirt beginning beneath her breasts and her slender arms with those butterfly sleeves.

"How is it going with Sid?" Hermione's quiet question had not surprised June.

"How is what going?" She had still pointedly ask. She could predict the conversation's occurrence but that did not mean that she wanted to have it.

"Are we back to pretending that there is nothing between the two of you? How is Draco taking it?" Hermione's impatient questions annoyed June who gave a pretentious amused smile.

Hermione knew right away that she was testing June's patience now.

"I have never denied anything between me and Sid. I just don't let you see what isn't. As for Draco, why don't you ask him?" She had quickly said, picked up her purse, finished her Frappe in a gulp and left.

"June, wait…" She had ignored Hermione's voice.

 **She was immediately sucked out and sucked in someplace else.**

* * *

'What did Hermione say now? You were giving her a cold shoulder the entire evening?" Siddharth was asking. He wore a Hawaiian shirt on a pair of Khaki shorts. She was dressed in a camouflage Capri and a crop top.

'She has to bring our relationship every time. Can't she take a hint and just shut up?" June said grudgingly, stamping her foot on the beach sand.

"She wants the best for you…" Sid said in a tired voice.  
"Well, her best for me is not the same as my best for me…" She said with a hard swallow, "I am sorry but I need to do this Sid. I need to right things and if all that will take is loving Tom Riddle, then I have no qualms in doing it."

"We don't want you to go either, you know that, right? Draco and I?" Sid said after much struggle.

"I know. At least, you consider my side. I would just be happy if she pretended to consider my side." June said bitterly.

"It is tough on her, you know that. You will be leaving forever. Forever. You are her best friend. She is going to miss you." Siddharth said.

"You mean you are going to miss me…" She said, silently asking him a question.

"I would not deny that it is difficult watching you throw away your life for a dead crazed murderer who might or might not be redeemable or savable." He said with a little wince, looking towards the sun.

"Way to put it crassly." She muttered unhappily.

He chuckled.

"Do I need to give my speech again?" She asked after a comfortable silence, settling down on the sand.

"Nah, I know why you need to go and most of the time, I understand it. Sometimes though, it is just difficult. Though, I know it is more difficult on you. The idea of leaving behind everyone you love, everything that is comfortable, to chase him across dimensions, time. I won't be hard on you. I will talk to Hermione, she will back off." Sid said, settling down with her.

"I love you…" She whispered after a few moments.

"I love you too…" Sid replied back with a forlorn smile, knowing that their love was not meant to be.

 **Sucked out and sucked in.**

* * *

"You know, for a dark wizard, he lives quite a colored life…."June commented loudly from the back of the racing motorbike.

"You are telling me…"Sid chuckled.

She saw June and Sid passing mountainous roads…chuckling, laughing to themselves.

"He lives here, in this cave….what a waste for immortality?" She muttered after she got off from the bike near a cave.

"Juniper Potter…" A wispy voice said, "I did not think I would see you…"

"Neither did I… It is not a meeting I have been looking forward to," June said tartly.

The Wizard gave a thin smile, "And you are not a magical, a creature perhaps…"He looked at Siddharth.

Siddharth gave him a bland look, "You need not concern yourself with that,"

"You taught Tom Riddle the ritual he used to resurrect himself…"She began.

"It is irreversible, your quest is in vain. He is immortal." The man said.

"I know, I killed him…"June said blandly. The irony of her statement was not lost on her.

That shook the wizard. He looked shocked but he schooled his features.

"He would have been your husband…..you killed him?" He whispered.

"Yes and inherited the house of Slytherin by marriage." June said crassly.

She had decided not to show her emotions about Tom in front of the leech. He would just have exploited it.

"So you know about Horcruxes…" He murmured.

"His and yours." She summoned three trinkets out of the motorbike's bag and let them hover in the air.

"It was a mutual exchange. He taught you the key to making Horcruxes and while you taught him the darkest, vilest rituals….Black Arts not Dark Arts…Did you lie to him? Did you tell him the difference? It does not matter. I am a child of magic and I can sense soul magic from afar…." June stepped towards him threateningly.

"Give them back, girl…" The man said rabidly and urgently.

"The thing is I am not here to negotiate with you. I already know what you did. I already know where to find you. I just needed that. The world could do with one less of you…"She muttered…

"Fiendfyre…" She murmured and a controlled fire dragon in her palm rose and destroyed all three trinkets and died down.

The man was raising his wand….But Siddharth bound him… and she sent a clear Reducto to his heart.

June then called Fiendfyre again and burned the corpse to ashes.

"Did that make you feel better?" Sid asked.

"Not really…" She muttered unhappily while Sid chuckled.

"I just need to find him before Tom does and kill him when I do the dimension travel. I hope I do not forget." She muttered.

* * *

 ** _Sucked in and sucked out._**

Oh my Merlin! That had been one wild night. She stood on the stage with Black Tights and a red crop top and she had been singing. She had been uninhibited. Not because she was drunk, but because she had done a dark ritual that had brought out her sexual side temporarily. The effect had been more pronounced because she actively suppressed her sexual urges.

Sid had been amused while Draco had been scared by her advances.

Well, she could not help it under those circumstances.

But this had been one pub night and she had just gone on the stage, stole the lyrics of the two songs and performed them…

Thank Merlin, It was only Sid with her that night. The others would have never let her live that down.

She had a mic in her hand and let us just say that she was quite sultry that night.

" ** _My demons are begging me to open up my mouth  
I need them mechanically make the words come out  
They fight me, vigorous and angry, watch them pounce  
Ignite me, licking at the flames they bring about_**

 _ **I sold my soul to a three-piece**_  
 _ **And he told me I was holy**_  
 _ **He's got me down on both knees**_  
 _ **But it's the devil that's tryna**_

 _ **Hold me down, hold me down**_  
 _ **Sneaking out the back door,**_  
 _ **Make no sound**_  
 _ **Knock me out, knock me out**_  
 _ **Saying that I want more, this is what I live for**_

 _ **Hold me down, hold me down**_  
 _ **Throw me in the deep end, watch me drown**_  
 _ **Knock me out, knock me out**_  
 _ **Saying that I want more, this is what I live fo**_ r

"

Now that she was going back to the memory, Sid looked a lot lustful than she had realized. And her lust, the object of her lust, she was sure it was not Sid. It was just one of her fantasies with Tom.

She had been so uncaring. She received roving response for the first song and she had broken into another one…

"

 ** _I found God  
I found him in a lover  
When his hair falls in his face  
And his hands so cold they shake_**

 _ **I found the Devil**_  
 _ **I found him in a lover**_  
 _ **And his lips like tangerines**_  
 _ **And his color coded speak**_

 _ **Now we're lost somewhere in outer space**_  
 _ **In a hotel room where demons play**_  
 _ **They run around beneath our feet**_  
 _ **We roll around beneath these sheets**_

 _ **I've got a lover**_  
 _ **A love like religion**_  
 _ **I'm such a fool for sacrifice**_  
 _ **It's coming down, down, coming down**_  
 _ **It's coming down, down, coming down**_

 _ **I've got a lover**_  
 _ **And I'm unforgiven**_  
 _ **I'm such a fool to pay this price**_  
 _ **It's coming down, down, coming down**_  
 _ **It's coming down, down, coming down**_

 _ **I found a martyr**_  
 _ **He told me that I'd never**_  
 _ **With his educated eyes**_  
 _ **And his head between my thighs**_

Her eyes met Sid's and had she given him a leer? She had definitely caught him off guard. He looked surprised but his pupils were dilated.

He had shown her how horny he was later in the night…

 ** _I found a savior  
I don't think he remembers  
'Cause he's off to pay his crimes  
And he's got no time for mine_**

 ** _Now we're lost somewhere in outer space_**  
 ** _In a hotel room where demons play_**  
 ** _They run around beneath our feet_**  
 ** _We roll around beneath these sheets_**

 ** _I've got a lover_**  
 ** _A love like religion_**  
 ** _I'm such a fool for sacrifice_**  
 ** _It's coming down, down, coming down_**  
 ** _It's coming down, down, coming down_**

 ** _I've got a lover_**  
 ** _And I'm unforgiven_**  
 ** _I'm such a fool to pay this price_**  
 ** _It's coming down, down, coming down_**  
 ** _It's coming down, down, coming down_**

"

She sang well, very well. She was surprised and she looked happy, so happy…

 **Sucked in and sucked out.**

She was dressed in a white dress and her hair were laden with Red roses. Hermione, Ginny and Luna were there in red dresses. They were all laughing.

It was a wedding. Her wedding.

"Congratulations Mrs. Malfoy…" Blaise gave her a smirk and leaned forward for a hug.

"I am keeping my maiden name, thank you very much." She said blandly, responding to his hug happily.

"Of course, who would want a sullied name like Malfoy? Certainly not the savior!" A man sneered.

"Who is he? Why is he on the guest list?" Juniper asked pointedly, completely ignoring the man's jab.

"Ministry Employee, Regulation of creatures. All department heads are invited June." Hermione informed. She had been the one in charge of the guest list. Though she looked mighty guilty now.

"Of course, Mr. Sanders, the despicable man who sent an atrocious message to Andy about my godson… How can I possibly forget you?" Juniper spat.

The man sneered.

"Remove him from this place. Bodily throw him out if you must." June said darkly to Blaise who nodded as June stepped away, her eyes disturbed.

 _The marriage to Draco had been a well thought out political move. The Savior marrying the son of the right hand man of Voldemort had salvaged the lives of several dark families. June had wanted to show that the sides of the war had ended with it. The Magical people needed to be one, needed to function and cooperate with each other. She had Draco had been friends, really good friends. She knew that he had harbored romantic feelings for her but it had all been platonic from her. An unconsummated marriage, planned just in paper. She barely lived in the Malfoy Manor, only for show, events or functions. Her home was the desolate Slytherin manor where she had exiled herself to repent for killing Voldemort. Draco was not the only one. George had struck to rekindle the spark she had shared with him in 4_ _th_ _and 5_ _th_ _year. It was for naught. Her eyes had only been stuck to a man who was six feet under and sometimes for Sid. And even with Sid, their relationship had never gone beyond that first kiss. Whenever they were 'horny', they sparred or dueled with each other and spent the energy like that. June could not bring herself, she could bring herself to go beyond that. She never kissed Sid again much less share her bed with anyone._

June's eyes met George's.

"You had to marry Draco bloody Malfoy…" He said in a light imitation of his dialogue he had shot a few days ago.

"What can I say? He is unique." She smiled, planting a kiss on George's cheek. He returned the gesture. Lightly shaking his head, he offered her his arm and led her away to where Ron and Sid were standing.

"How does it feel to see your wife getting married again?" He asked Sid.

"Splendid..." Sid smiled a suave smile.

"Hush…" Ron muttered, glancing around carefully.

"Relax, Ron. Nobody knows…" June had muttered with a smile.

"Yeah, all you guys have seen is a picture of our ceremony. Nobody has any memory of it. Our marriage is not legal. It is magical. We use it as a replacement for Riddle's magic. Hers and Draco's is only legal and not magical. It is all thought out…"Sid said in a low voice, as he smiled leisurely at the guests. He was a master at deception, really.

 **Sucked in and sucked out**

* * *

"Where are you taking me?" Draco had asked.

 _This was way before they got married. In fact, this was a few days before she met Siddharth. She had permanently shifted herself to the life of a nomad. She never stayed anywhere more than a few days and the only permanent junction was Slytherin Manor. Draco had been worried about where she disappeared off to. And that is why she had told him about the Slytherin manor that day and taken him for a visit._

"Welcome to Slytherin Estate." She murmured as they landed in a lush green valley in the center of which was a Castle.

"Does it have portraits?" Draco asked.

"Yes, there are portraits. Salazar is the only one awake though. And he never realizes how much time has passed. He said he lost count. Now though, he maintains an ancient calendar to wait till my next visit." She murmured slowly.

She began walking towards something, but not towards the castle.

"Where…"Draco trailed off as he spotted a Juniper tree planted in the center of the meadow and realized that it was the destination for June's hurried steps.

When they reached the tree, he realized that the tree provided shadow to a grave which was laden with flowers. It simply read, "Here lies Tom Riddle, a boy whom the world forgot.'

"It was already there…The tree. I just brought him here and buried him. It just seemed oddly poetic. I could not protect him when he was alive, I thought I would do it when he was dead." She softly said.

There was a tense silence.

 _She had not blamed Draco for the silence. Voldemort had not given him fond memories but for her sake, he tried to understand. He always tried to understand._

Draco broke the silence with a jab, "I really don't think he would have cared for the flowers…"

She stared at him blankly for a moment.

 _She guessed that she had worried Draco in that moment because his smug smile had vaporized and he was about to make a stuttering excuse when she had laughed._

She had a tinkling laugh. A Happy laugh. It was not surprising that the things that made her most happy as Juniper always boiled down to things regarding Tom Riddle.

* * *

 **Sucked in and sucked out**

She sat Indian style at the end of two graves. Remus Lupin and Tonks. But her eyes were not on them or the wreaths on their graves. It was on the tiny grave nestled between the two.

Teddy Lupin.

Tears flowed down her cheeks freely.

 _When she had seen Remus and Tonks after the battle, or seen their bodies, she had promised herself that she would be a better godparent than Sirius._

 _She loved Sirius but Sirius had not been around. She had promised that she would be around, for birthdays and tough days, when he walked, when he talked, his first Hogwarts train ride…_

 _She let out a silent sob._

 _But it was all for naught. Teddy had been with Andy and June had left him there. God knows that the woman needed her only family around to be sane. June had always lived without people, she could still do it._

 _But they had attacked. Some death eaters who had escaped had attacked. Andy was a fighter. She fought for an hour. June had been the prisoner of a warlord in Brazil then. Too far away._

 _She did make it back after Andy's harried patronus reached her, but Andy was lying bloodied and Teddy was nowhere to be found._

 _June had tried but she had been so caught up in grief that she could not do anything.  
She had pushed her political clout, Draco had pushed his….all for naught because Teddy was the son of a werewolf._

 _They did find him a day later. It was one of Draco's sources…_

 _They had sold Teddy for a pureblood sport on full moon..._

 _They hacked the bodies of werewolf children into pieces…_

 _They were too late…all June found were pieces of her godson…._

 _And Sanders, that despicable man...he had told Andy that she should be glad that those purebloods got rid of her godson. She should be grateful…._

 _June had cursed him and had been reprimanded. If it were not for Sid's restraining arms, she would have killed him. She had no qualms with killing anymore._

 _That was when her faith in the Wizarding world broke. That was the moment when all she wanted to do was run away. Run away to past…to Tom..._

 _This world was not redeemable, maybe it was redeemable when he was a kid. Maybe...just maybe…_

 _She had been a good godmother…even with her nomadic lifestyle, she visited Teddy weekly. She visited no one but she visited Teddy. The last thread holding her to Britain broke when he died and June left. She left and ran away as fast as she could…_

 _No, she was such a bad godmother…_

 **Sucked in and sucked out**

* * *

June was sitting in the restricted section of the Library at Hogwarts with express permission of McGonagall and Madam Pince. Pince had been none too happy about it. According to her, June did not respect her precious books.

June had listened to it from one ear and let it out from the other. She was so used to the lectures about book treatment from Hermione.

June could take care of books just fine. She just believed in using them for what they were meant. Gaining Knowledge.

If she just let a book sit idle like a trophy, she would render the books useless.

Books were meant to be read. Preserved yes, but preserved for reading and not for showcasing them.

With that thought, she gingerly turned the page of the book she was perusing. It was not a book, rather a potions grimoire of the 18th century potioneer Vindictus Viridian. That man was once the headmaster of Hogwarts and had left behind his journals to the school.

The man had been liberal in sharing his knowledge about curses and counter curses but had been paranoid about safekeeping his potions knowledge. He had not published most of his 'experimental' work in potions, rather hiding it in the restricted section of the school.

June had not been searching for this book or grimoire. She had been looking into the emerald potion that Voldemort had put in the basin in the cave.

When she had told Sid and Draco, they had both looked scared.

 _"It is a monstrosity." Sid had said. It was the first time she had seen him this shaken._

 _"You know about it." Draco had asked, his face pale as he glanced towards Sid._

 _"I have heard of it." Sid murmured._

 _"It is called the Drink of Despair. In street lingo, it is also called a Dementor's draught. It does exactly what a dementor does, sucks out happiness among other things. It wears off only in time, days, months. I do not know about an antidote…" Draco had whispered with a pale face, "I have just heard rumors about it. It is too dangerous, even to administer. Too barbaric…It was lost in time but it was rediscovered." He looked scared._

She had followed faint trails of it, whispers in the streets. Turns out Master Viridian had dug it out of obscurity and written down in this grimoire and it was no wonder that Tom Riddle, of all the people, had found it and later used it as Voldemort. Thus, making the potion available in market again, albeit for a small time and a huge amount of money.

June had to give Tom that, he was resourceful and he used every avenue of gain more knowledge.

She flipped through more pages, of the most grotesque potions, worse than the ones in Most Potente Potions….

She felt a yawn coming and rested her elbows on the desk, rubbing her eyes to overcome the waft of drowsiness. She gently touched her hair. They were tied in a ponytail with an emerald green silk hairband and she wore a dark comfortable robe.

She glanced out the long window panel. It was dark, as dark as it had been a couple of hours ago.

She silently cast a tempus. It was three in the morning.

She decided to take the rest of the day off. She needed to sleep. She thought she could trouble Narcissa. That women sure knew how to make tea and give shoulder massages.

She would avoid Molly. Every time June went to Burrow, she heard the same speech about settling down and having babies. At least, Narcissa was more subtle. It was not as if June did not want a family or children. She just wanted them later, later when she had fixed the timeline, gone and found Tom. Sorted out this stuff. Well, maybe. She did not really know what she wanted.

But she needed to visit Molly, perhaps this weekend. Not now, right now she was too tired to listen to Molly. And though it was late in night, there was a chance that Narcissa would be up.

She sighed, got up, pushed back the bench with the back of her calves and picked the grimoire.

She considered sneaking it out but she did not want to be banned from the library.

With another sigh, she put it back on the shelf but cast a privacy ward on it just as a measure.

She returned to the desk, pulled off the dark shawl, wrapped herself in it and absentmindedly wandered out to get out of the castle.

She was walking down a corridor when she realized it. She was not on her regular route. This was a different corridor but it seemed familiar.

She was not as surprised by the familiarity. She had spent considerable time in the castle exploring under the Invisibility cloak. A familiar corridor was far from a surprise; but she had this strong feeling. This place, it held memories, emotional memories…

She remembered something and moved hurriedly to a classroom door and opened it quickly on a hunch.

There, in all its glory, was the mirror of Erised.

June stopped at the door. Last time when she had seen the mirror, it had been her family.

She had no family, even now.

"It doesn't do to dwell on dreams…"She muttered to herself and stopped short of entering. She knew she will not be seeing her parents. She had gotten over their death, sort of. She wished that they were not dead but she knew it was not the most desired desire in her right now.

If she took the steps and entered and saw the mirror, it would be real. Her desire would be real.

And she would dwell on it.

She did not have time to dwell on things. She had too much on her plate. That is why she was ignoring Draco. He was finding more meaning in this marriage than she was. That was why she was trying to avoid Sid because he made those feelings rise in her. She had no time for those feelings. She had too much on her plate.

She loved them, but….

She swallowed and looked down, lost in her racing thoughts.

When she looked up, the mirror was still there, as enticing as it was before.

On a whim, she took a step forward and stopped abruptly.

"This won't change anything. I will still go, find and love Tom." She promised herself aloud. She looked at the mirror in determination, as if the mirror had the ability to take away her everything.

It probably did.

She bit her lips. Whatever, she was just putting it off.

She shook her head and walked quickly to the front of the mirror with a bent head.

When she looked up, she was plainly surprised by what the mirror showed her.

She was there, of course. Standing in a pale cream gown with emerald green embroidery. Her hair were tied back just like they were right now with ringlets curling around her ears.

What was different was the soft, satisfied smile that her counterpart had.

And the fact that her head was tucked under a man's chin, above which was a glowing, light smile and smiling midnight blue eyes.

It was Tom, Tom Riddle with her in the mirror and they looked happy and together.

She raised her hands and placed them on his smiling lips. What she would not do to see that smile?

In the mirror, Tom, he was taller than her, he bent down and pecked her hair and she glanced up at him and they shared a smile.

It was so cliché…but it was what she wanted…to be normal…with him.

Her eyes were fixed on the happy Tom, memorizing every little detail of his visage hungrily. From his black, wavy hair to his eyes to the smile crinkles, she moved her fingers yearningly, wishing that she could touch him for real.

Tears brimmed in her eyes but didn't escape, and she gave a sad, forlorn smile.

A movement behind the two figures in the mirror startled her. She had been so focused on the face of Tom that she had not noticed the surroundings.

It was the courtyard of Slytherin manor, neat, clean and laden with plants and a marble fountains and sculptures. A restored courtyard, but that wasn't what caught her eye.

Two tiny figures peeped out from behind her counterpart and Tom's legs. Both had mops of black hair and pale skin. A boy and a girl. The boy with her green eyes and the girl with his midnight blue eyes. The girl had her small, pert nose and the boy had Tom's sharp nose. The girl looked mischievous and the boy, her son, she permitted herself to say it in her head, he had such a shy smile.

It took Juniper's everything to not cry. Her feet staggered. She took a step back and sank to the floor, putting the shawl in her mouth to stifle her own screams.

Tom still smiled at her from the mirror.

 **Sucked in and sucked out**

* * *

Juniper sat near Tom's grave, pruning the flowers with the scissors in her hand absent-mindedly. This was the only part of garden that thrived because of her care. She had planted every single flower on the grave with her hands and she frequently returned for the upkeep.

She was lost in thoughts, thoughts of the mirror. She had eventually made it out of the room and castle but it had taken a lot out of her.

"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live…" A faint hoarse and cracked whisper shook her out the thoughts.

"What bring you here Death?" She softly asked without a bite.

"No sarcasm, no threats, no bite. Are you well, mistress?" Death asked.

"You already know the answer." She said simply, "I find it hard to believe that you missed a Boxseat to my struggle against the mirror. Did you have a good laugh?" She asked bitterly.

"It is true that I do not need an invisibility cloak to be invisible but whatever you saw in the mirror is yours. I could never see it even if I wanted to. Because your desires and mine are very different." Death spoke after a small silence.

"Will you stop quoting Dumbledore? It is creepy." She said shortly.

"You sit over a grave and you call me creepy." He shot back.

"Death is natural, grieving is natural. Not creepy. But the way you choose to interact with me is creepy." She said softly.

He lounged back in the glass with a throaty laughter, "Of course, it is creepy. You are alive. I specialize in dealing with the dead." But he brought his hands forward and clapped them, "At least you seem alive biologically."

"Are you going to say my soul is dead, my heart is dead and give me motivating speeches about how I need to come out of it…"June said scathingly.

"Nope" He popped the p. "I am not destiny or fate. I don't do motivation."

"Then what do you want? " She asked forcefully.

"I don't want anything. I am merely a messenger this time." Death said.

"From whom?" She asked in the same tone but with a little wonder.

"They don't have names...That is too plebian and mortal..."Death shrugged.

"Yeah, they are just known by the functions they carry out. How materialistic?" She shot back.

"And there is the woman that was hiding. Rancid tone suits you." He gave a lopsided smile to her.

She rolled her eyes, "What message?"

"Having a desire is not a bad thing. Knowing your desire is not a bad thing. Wanting your desire is not a bad thing. It is human and you are allowed to be human. I know it feels weird to miss someone you are not sure that you know. I know it feels even bizarre to think that you love him beyond your comprehension despite not knowing him. I know it is difficult because his absence only intensifies everything that you feel. I know it is difficult to realize that he may never want your love or respect it. I know it is difficult to realize that your want to be with him is equal to your need to see him happy even if his happiness means the death of everything else. I know you cannot choose between the two right now but the ache of both the need and the want are tearing you apart. You know you will choose his happiness, you will choose it over and over and over. Without a pause, without a doubt, in a heartbeat. You will keep choosing it. Yet, the simple lack of him means more than the presence of others to you and it will keep meaning more. Because you love him, you love him so very much. There is a madness in loving him. The lack of reason just makes it more flawless. And just so you know, his happiness might coincide with your want to be him. Despite knowing this; you are afraid, so very afraid, that you are going to do in your life is pine for him because he is a world away, far away in space and time and despite all your efforts you might never be able to reach him. Even if you reach him, you will have to say farewell to the rest of your world and you don't know if you can do it. You are afraid that leaving your world would hurt you so much that you won't be able to help him, able to love him. And I will be honest, leaving is going to have to hurt, you will cry and let go of a lot of things and people to get to the other side. It is sad but sometimes moving on with the rest of your life starts with goodbye. It is going to break you down, like falling when you try to fly. But I don't know a better flyer. You will fly and you will be fine. You have bested fires and dragons as you flew. You have bested dementors, you have bested every hardship as you flew, as you lived. My lovely daughter, you have been so brave throughout. Don't lose your courage now, don't doubt your intentions now. All will be well. We love you." Death said without pause.

Every single word made June more rigid. She had an inkling in the beginning about who sent the message. She now knew who. It was not the address as daughter that confirmed it but the line 'you have been so brave.'

"Mom…"June said in a slow whisper. Lily Potter had said the exact same words 'you have been so brave' when June had been walking to her death and had used the resurrection stone. She had never used the stone again despite finding it on her desk after a few days.

Death did not nod, he just said, "I must say, Lily Potter is one of the wisest souls I have carried over to the other side, even though she is not called by that name anymore."

That confirmed it even though it was not as if that she had needed the confirmation.

"All will be well..."She whispered with a little conviction.

 **Sucked in….**

* * *

 **A/N: I know most of you want to kill me right now. No awake Cordelia, no Tom, No Renatus, nothing. A Chapter full of past. But it had to be done. In case, you did not guess, this is what is going through Cordelia's head in her Coma.**

 **But as a compensation, I hope you liked the glimpse of Tom and Cordelia's babies. :D**

 **Her barriers against her past have gotten complicated because of the Coma. Exactly what, won't be addressed till the end of fourth year. No more Juniper for a while.**

 **Also, I know there is a lot of anxiety about Sid. Hope this chapter quelled it. They were not even real lovers. They just loved each other but they never took the relationship forward. Death just likes to tease Cordelia. Or maybe, you don't need to be physically involved to be lovers. Choose your pick. It is actually both. June never seriously committed herself to him but they both knew their affections for each other.**

 **About the marriages, again contractual. If it was not clear in this chapter, then she married Draco to create a stable polity in Magical Britain. She married Sid to fool her bond since his magic is slightly similar to Tom's because of their Naga ancestry. Both marriages were unconsummated. And yes, she was married to both of them.**

 **One of the readers wrote a long, detailed review about Sid. I know you guys are still anxious. That arc is a very faint possibility. It is one of the multiple futures that I have thought for this fic. I don't think I will have the strength to write so much. But the Sid arc will be like one fanfic to Flipped, I guess. And it will be one among the multiple futures I will write. If I write it at all. For more explanation, read on my Author Page. I might update it slightly later though.**

 **hope you liked the chapter. It was one hell of a long chapter, so I hope you are grateful. :P PLEASE REVIEW.**

 **And yeah, I crossed the 750 followers mark with this week, so thank you all for your enormous support. I had not even imagined in my dreams that I would have such following when I posted the prologue. But it sure does feel nice. Keep Reading. :D**

 **The songs in the above chapter are Hold me Down and Coming Down by Halsey. I don't own them.**

* * *

 **RESPONSE TO GUEST REVIEWS**

 **Wahht: I love Sid too. Some people don't.: ) But he is really in the past.**

 **Avadakedavra: Glad that you are liking or rather loving it. I update every Saturday without fail unless I give notice. I am sorry that Cordelia is still not technically up. Though she will be in the next chapter.**

 **Q: Here is more. Cheers.**

 **Unnamed guest: Well, it was a really nice cliffie. But I really apologized for it that last time too. Don't worry, she will be kicking ass soon.**

 **Grim: Thanks for the vote of support. Cheers. Keep reading.**

 **Unnamed guest 2: I hope it is worth your love.**

 **All the people who followed me this week, you amazed me. There were just so many. I thought I should point that out.**

 **Same day next week.:)**


	26. Chapter 20: Kiss Me

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances and nineteen years later. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue"**

 **Chapter 20: Kiss me**

 **Cordelia's POV**

"Having a desire is not a bad thing. Knowing your desire is not a bad thing. Wanting your desire is not a bad thing. It is human and you are allowed to be human. I know it feels weird to miss someone you are not sure that you know. I know it feels even bizarre to think that you love him beyond your comprehension despite not knowing him. I know it is difficult because his absence only intensifies everything that you feel. I know it is difficult to realize that he may never want your love or respect it. I know it is difficult to realize that your want to be with him is equal to your need to see him happy even if his happiness means the death of everything else. I know you cannot choose right now but the ache of both the need and the want are tearing you apart. You know you will choose his happiness, you will choose it over and over and over. Without pause, without a doubt, in a heartbeat. You will keep choosing it. Yet, the simple lack of him means more than the presence of others to you and it will keep meaning more. Because you love him, you love him so very much. There is a madness in loving him. The lack of reason just makes it more flawless. And just so you know, his happiness might coincide with your want to be him. And despite knowing this, you are afraid, so very afraid, that you are going to do in your life is pine for him because he is a world away, far away in space and time and despite all your efforts you might never be able to reach him. Even if you reach him, you will have to say farewell to the rest of your world and you don't know if you can do it. You are afraid that leaving your world would hurt you so much that you won't be able to help him, able to love him. And I will be honest, leaving is going to have to hurt, you will cry and let go of a lot of things and people to get to the other side. It is sad but sometimes moving on with the rest of your life starts with goodbye. It is going to break you down, like falling when you try to fly. But I don't know a better flyer. You will fly and you will be fine. You have bested fires and dragons as you flew. You have bested dementors, you have bested every hardship as you flew, as you lived. My lovely daughter, you have been so brave throughout. Don't lose your courage now, don't doubt your intentions now. All will be well. We love you." Death said without pause.

Every single word made June more rigid. She had an inkling in the beginning about who sent the message. It was not the address as daughter that confirmed it but the line 'you have been so brave.'

"Mom…"June said in a slow whisper. Lily Potter had said the exact same words, 'you have been so brave', when June had been walking to her death and had used the resurrection stone.

Death did not nod, he just said, "I must say, Lily Potter is one of the wisest souls I have carried over to the other side, not that she is called that anymore."

That confirmed it even though it was not as if that she had needed the confirmation.

"All will be well..."She whispered with a little conviction.

 **Sucked in….**

Cordelia Faye Black opened her eyes with a gasp. All would be well. She would make it well.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

It was really chilly in this part of London. Tom let out an involuntary shudder as he stood near a window in a corridor that led to the reception of the orphanage. Normally, he would be bitter about not being able to conjure fire, but today that thought was miles away. Frankly, he thought he deserved to be caged in this hellhole. It had been five days since Cordelia was attacked and four since he had seen her.

He had only been able to catch a glimpse in the entrance hall as her parents and relatives left Hogwarts with their progeny and her. She had been sleeping on a stretcher. At least, that is what he tried to tell himself. She was sleeping and not in a coma. 4 freaking days and Tom had never been worse. Despite his adamancy about coming back to the orphanage, he had made Orion and Abraxas swear that they would keep him updated.

He had received 2 letters so far telling him that there was no change but the healers were looking for a solution nonetheless. Their parents were also branching out to other non-wizarding magical healings and seeing what they could do.

Tom had arrived this morning in the orphanage and he had heard no word about her for more than 48 hours. He cleaned the frost from one window and glanced outside. The streets were caked with snow.

Looked like Lia's hope about a white Yule would be coming true. He just wished she would be healthy and fine when the day came.

He glanced away. Saying her name in his head still hurt, it was more than a pang, it was as if something was driving hot knives in his heart but he thought of her again and again for two reasons. One, he was afraid that if he stopped thinking about her, he would wake up and Lia would be a lie. Everything they had would prove to be a lie. Her existence would be a lie because he did not deserve her perfection. Two was the same reason as to why he was in the orphanage and not at Malfoy manor. Tom was punishing himself. He deserved this. He had been unable to save her. What use was his advanced prowess and agility? What use was his paranoia and lifetime of scheming when he could not save what mattered most to him in the end?

He was supposed to be under his covers. If Mrs. Cole saw him up at this hour, he knew he would be punished. Not that he cared.

But he just couldn't sleep. He had not slept at all in the past 5 days, not just because he was used to sleeping beside Cordelia but because every time he closed his eyes, he saw her falling and her spilling blood.

He just could not...he just could not contain his emotions.

He heard a small movement that came from the reception of the orphanage. He looked there suspiciously but ignored it.

He glanced outside again. He could see snowflakes coming down again. It was going to get even colder. The sleep deprivation along with cold was probably playing with his head.

He started to move back towards his deserted room. But he thought that he heard footsteps. When he looked around, he saw nothing.

He was highly confused, and then he heard a faint tinkling laughter…

"I must be hallucinating…"He muttered to himself. He walked without looking up but then again heard a heavy footfall. He knew this one…Mrs. Cole.

He looked around frantically for a place where he could hide.

In the end, he felt a hand push him to the wall while covering him in something. He was about to yell when a finger came to his lips, "Shhhh." He knew that soft finger. He immediately looked down and was greeted with his favorite smile and deep emerald orbs.

Cordelia's body was pressed into his and he was pressed onto a wall and both of them were covered with what appeared to be an invisibility cloak.

Tom still did not believe that she was really here. He was blatantly staring at her in disbelief.

She was just smiling at him in her usual petulant way. A broad smile with those sparks in her eyes. She was so painfully beautiful. He wanted to raise his hand and touch her, hold her but he was afraid that she was going to disappear. So for now, he was just content in looking at her. He would never, ever get tired of that smile. Beautiful. Not just in looks, Lia was beautiful because of what she represented for him. Beautiful…

Tom wanted to cry but he had shut his emotions. Shut it the moment Evelyn told him…. All he had held onto was his anger…

Mrs. Cole heavy footsteps came closer…

Tom still did not look away but Cordelia did. She turned her head to make her eyes follow the movement of the older woman. Tom turned his head too.

They both saw her walking down the length of the corridor with a candle in her hand. She must be coming from the scullery. She entered her room and the door was shut behind her.

"Is that her room?" Cordelia asked in a whisper, looking directly into Tom's eyes. Tom opened his mouth but no voice came. He was frankly startled to hear her speak. He had thought he would never see or hear from her again. In the end, he just nodded.

"Phew," Cordelia muttered and removed the cloak from both of their heads.

She looked at him and beamed again, "So, how has it been?"

Tom stared at her in disbelief.

"Why did you rebuff Abe? You were supposed to be in the manor. I had to travel all the way from Black Manor to come and get you….." Cordelia muttered heatedly with a frown. Tom couldn't believe his ears.

"Are you okay? This place did not get to you…" She did not wait for his answer, "My poor baby…." She stood on her toes and pecked his forehead.

Tom froze then. He had felt her lips….He still could not say anything, not after what had happened in the past 4 days, not after his inability to save her, not after what he had done to cope with her absence. Cordelia was not that familiar with his dark side.

They hear another footstep. Cordelia quickly covered them again while looking around suspiciously.

It was Martha and that boy, Billy. She was scolding him in light tones. They had not entered this corridor yet but Tom could hear them.

He ignored the voices, focusing on Cordelia's even breathing instead. She shivered and crooned closer to him with her body pressed into his completely and her head near the crook of his neck, her nose touching the bottom of his chin. He just stared into her eyes.

 _ **1, 2, 3…..**_

 _ **Settle down with me**_  
 _ **Cover me up**_  
 _ **Cuddle me in**_

 _ **Lie down with me**_  
 _ **And hold me in your arms**_

 _ **And your heart's against my chest, your lips pressed to my neck**_  
 _ **I'm falling for your eyes, but they don't know me yet**_  
 _ **And with a feeling I'll forget, I'm in love now**_

 _ **Kiss me like you wanna be loved**_  
 _ **You wanna be loved**_  
 _ **You wanna be loved**_  
 _ **This feels like falling in love**_  
 _ **Falling in love**_  
 _ **We're falling in love**_

 _ **Settle down with me**_  
 _ **And I'll be your safety**_  
 _ **You'll be my lady**_

 _ **I was made to keep your body warm**_  
 _ **But I'm cold as the wind blows so hold me in your arms**_

 _ **Oh no**_  
 _ **My heart's against your chest, your lips pressed to my neck**_  
 _ **I'm falling for your eyes, but they don't know me yet**_  
 _ **And with this feeling I'll forget, I'm in love now**_

 _ **Kiss me like you wanna be loved**_  
 _ **You wanna be loved**_  
 _ **You wanna be loved**_  
 _ **This feels like falling in love**_  
 _ **Falling in love**_  
 _ **We're falling in love**_

 _ **Yeah I've been feeling everything**_  
 _ **From hate to love**_  
 _ **From love to lust**_  
 _ **From lust to truth**_  
 _ **I guess that's how I know you**_  
 _ **So I hold you close to help you give it up**_

 _ **So kiss me like you wanna be loved**_  
 _ **You wanna be loved**_  
 _ **You wanna be loved**_  
 _ **This feels like falling in love**_  
 _ **Falling in love**_  
 _ **We're falling in love**_

 _ **Kiss me like you wanna be loved**_  
 _ **You wanna be loved**_  
 _ **You wanna be loved**_  
 _ **This feels like falling in love**_  
 _ **Falling in love**_  
 _ **We're falling in love**_

Their lips were probably an inch apart from each other. She was staring into his eyes and he was just drinking in her face. He was feeling compelled to just brush his lips against hers.

It was she who moved closer. Tom would have backed away if he had not been backed against a wall. But he stood there, completely still.

Their noses met each other. He could not help it. He lightly nuzzled her. She smiled at that and rested her forehead against his left cheek and then lightly kissed his nose.

"Where is your cloak? You will catch a cold…" She gently reprimanded.

Tom did not say anything. He just stared at her and took her palms into his, their fingers interlacing, softly feeling each other's skin.

"I missed you…." She muttered and he was buried in a hug.

Oh, gosh, her smell. How much had he missed this? Just basking in her presence. He nuzzled at her neck and he felt her fingers tighten in his hair…

His eyes were on the verge of leaking.

"We should get inside your room…" She muttered softly.

Tom reluctantly let go of her and let her lead him to his bedroom. Unlike the usual rule, Tom had a room all by himself. Nobody wanted to room with him and frankly, Tom preferred it that way.

His room was scant and sparse. A cot was pushed against one wall and the Almirah was pushed against another. There was no desk, nothing. One wall had a window, which was shut tightly.

His trunk from the school was just below that window and Tom used it as a makeshift side table at times. Currently, the Gaunt book lay on it.

Tom had taken it out after light outs in the hope of reading it. In the hope of smelling Cordelia in it. It had not been useful.

Cordelia immediately dashed in the direction of the book.

"I forgot to mention it earlier but all Black books have a tracker on them. Uncle finds it somewhat limiting since you need to know the exact magical signature of the book to locate it. But I always make a record of the signature of the ones I lend out. But now that I used it today, it is a neat nifty trick." Cordelia commented lightly and softly. That explained how she could pinpoint his room and how she found the orphanage.

She did not comment on anything in the room. He did not think she would. She knew and understood the details of his life even when he did not elaborate on them.

"Let me put up a silencing charm. They won't be able to detect wandless magic." She waved her hand.

Tom did not say anything. He was not even surprised by her display of the magic or envious of it.

"You are awfully quiet." She commented after a few moments of silence, looking at him. Her smile had vanished.

"I am less quiet than you were these past days." He said bitterly. He could not keep the rancidity out of his voice.

She did not say anything. Her eyes had concern in them and something else.

He honestly did not care, "How could you do it to me? Do you have any idea how hard it was? Seeing you like that… You fell down three stories. I did not even know if you were alive. Then I found out that you were. Your body was broken. There was so much blood… I did not know for how long you will be alive…The Healers saved you but you were in a coma. I did not know when you would wake up….If you would wake up….And you were just lying there, silent without movement. I begged you to get up, I prayed to every goddamn higher power to wake you up…I even stopped by the cathedral this morning while coming back to the orphanage….I did not know if you would wake up….if I will ever hear that annoying omniscient voice….if I will hear that irritating laughter….if I will ever see that spark in your so green eyes…..I did not know Lia…..I did not know….Do you have any idea what you made me go through? Any idea….?" Tom could not keep it inside….his voice kept going on higher octaves until he just got so confused that he fell silent. He had not realized but tears had sprung out of his eyes.

She did not scream at him. She just silently listened to his every scream and looked at him with such sadness that Tom did not know what to do…

"I am sorry…" She muttered softly, genuinely, taking his one hand in between her both palms.

Those three words shook Tom. He looked at her in bewilderment.

She did not explain it, she just apologized…

Tom's shoulder sagged in defeat at her expression. He gripped her hands tighter. He tried to speak, but he could not. He gripped her even tighter. Before he could think twice, he had pulled her roughly into an embrace . His both palms were wrapped near her neck and he was panting with tears flowing out of his eyes, "I was so scared...I was so….You were not there Lia….and I felt so much and I did not what to do…I did not what to do…" He pressed his lips against her hair.

He felt kisses, soft ones on the lapel of his neck, near his ear and her one palm came and wiped his tears.

"I am so sorry…"She muttered looking at him with her compassionate eyes.

"What are you apologizing for? You were the one who got hurt….because of me…Because I could not do a simple spell…" Tom muttered angrily. He was feeling so confused about his emotions.

"It is not your fault." She said sharply. All her empathy and compassion had flown away.

Tom just looked shocked at her furious expression.

"Don't you dare pin it on yourself….I fell…it was the fault of the person who cast the spell...not you…Never you.." She said angrily, "Gosh Tom, I feel like hitting you now…"

She wiped his tears completely and frowned at him.

'We will talk about it later. We need to get you out of here. You are never coming back." She promised.

"I am not…." Tom began.

"No, you are not. Abraxas will suffer for making me break my promise like that. I swore you were never coming back here." Cordelia said, her eyes had a fire.

"It was not his fault. I denied him. For that matter, I need to take up a matter with him too. He never informed me that you were up." Tom said grudgingly.

"He couldn't. Family oath. My family is not taking any chances. I woke up today morning. I was not allowed out of sight even though I was just sitting on my bed all day until I begged them of privacy. I said the worse that could happen was me oversleeping, so they all allowed Cherry to keep a watch and let me be." Cordelia said in an apologetic tone.

She was not pleased.

"And you snuck out…"Tom asked in disbelief.

"I gave you my word whereas I merely lied to them for my convenience," Cordelia said distractedly. She was eyeing his cupboard and the trunk.

"That's not the point…"Tom began.

"Yes, it isn't. Which is why we should leave. We have a long day tomorrow." Cordelia said pointedly.

"Pack…"She commanded and waved her hands.

His cupboard flew open and his stuff begun flying out into his now open trunk.

"You just woke up from a grievous injury. You should not be performing magic at all, much less wandless magic. Cordelia, stop. I can do it manually." Tom began protesting.

"I am completely fine. Hale and Hearty. It was as if nothing happened. 10 Healers decreed that. Do not worry." Cordelia informed.

Tom narrowed his eyes.

"Okay, I admit it. I am slightly magically exhausted. That's it, but barely." She admitted but continued waving her hands.

"Stop…" He said firmly.

'Done…" She smiled at him as she neatly folded a pair of trousers in the air and shut the drunk with the gesture of her hand.

She started to shuffle in a bag that she had on her side. It looked like a briefcase that certain gentlemen carried to work in the London.

She pulled out a cloak from it. It came and hovered near Tom.

"You could have just handed it to me…" Tom muttered moodily as he grabbed the cloak.

"For the king of Slytherin, you act like such a child…." She muttered.

"For the heiress of House of Black, you act bloody reckless…Do you see me complaining?" Tom shot back.

Cordelia just raised her right eyebrow at him and winked.

She proceeded to shrink his trunk and placed the matchbox-sized trunk in his palm, "Toss it in your pocket."

Then, she folded the invisibility cloak neatly and put it inside her bag.

"You never told me you owned one of these." Tom pointed.

"I also never told you that I like to take skinny dips." She shot back uncaringly.

"What is a skinny dip?" Tom asked in confusion.

"Oh, my poor Tom." She shook her head.

"You know you are annoying. I don't know why in the world I like you." Tom gritted his teeth.

"Allow me to say that I am mostly adorable." She stood in front of him and gave him a cheeky smile, while opening her arms.

Tom snorted but went forward and hugged her.

"I missed you." He softly muttered.

"Well, you are stuck with me for the rest of Holidays. Even if you decide to live in an inn, I will come and bug you every day." She muttered softly.

"Where are we going?" Tom asked as they separated, "It is a bit late in the night and how are you going to explain my presence…."

"We are not going to either of my family manors, nor Black neither Malfoy. Too risky. Right now, everyone is paranoid on a different scale. They will mutilate you. You are only stepping in their vicinity with your inheritance and emancipation as a shield. My grandmother Melania left me a country cottage after she died. Nobody in the family knows about it. She left it for me because she wanted me to have an out in case I wanted to get away from the family politics. She was very sad about what happened to Charis. So, she thought I should have an escape since I was defiant at times. I have a portkey. We will spend the night there and then floo directly to Gringotts. I have made arrangements." Cordelia informed.

"Also, Cherry is going to make it look like that I was feeling caged inside the manor so I have flooed to the Diagon Alley sometime around 11 in the morning when the Healer is due. They supposedly gave me a dreamless sleep that is supposed to last till then." She swiftly informed.

"Why did you not take the potion, Lia?" Tom began complaining.

"I was exhausted of sleeping." She simply said meeting his eyes, "And I wanted to see you…"

Tom did not say anything.

'C'mon..." She grabbed his hand and pulled something out of her skirt pocket. It was a bracelet charm.

"Remember, this journey would be highly unpleasant. It would seem like…." She began to lecture him.

"There is a hook in my navel. I have read the descriptions." Tom said softly.

'Oh yes, never mind." She said without concern, "So onward. What most books don't write is that you will drop from the sky and not on land. Now gravity is strong, but the portkey's magic in still inside you, so we move our legs as if we are riding a bicycle and we land safely. It also helps if you grab onto each other." She swiftly informed.

Tom nodded.

He grasped her palm tightly in one hand and touched the charm with the other.

"Don't let go of either until we are safe on the ground." She muttered. He nodded. If he had it his way, he would never let go of her anyway.

"Haven…"She murmured and the portkey activated.

 **Cordelia's POV**

It was a small homely cottage. It was a pretty place. Cordelia remembered it from the other world. In Juniper's world, it had been bequeathed to Dorea Potter who in turn had bequeathed it to Lily Potter, who in turn left everything to June. So when she had been planning several safehouses after arriving in this world, she had settled on this one as well. Death had ensured that she inherited this.

She and Tom walked up to the ward line.

Juniper stuck a pin in her finger and let a blood drop to the ward stone and they were allowed entry.

They were quiet but still held on to each other's hand except when Cordelia pricked her finger.

Silent companionship. They just drew energy from each other's mere presence.

They were walking in the snow. Cordelia had performed another charm to prevent their feet from soaking.

The cottage was in the center of a meadow which had small hillocks on one side and had a small frozen canal going nearby. The meadow was small, otherwise, there were thick trees streaked with ice and snow. It looked ethereal, especially this late in the night.

The cottage had three rooms, one hall, and one small kitchen, all stocked.

Cordelia had the fire going and pulled out two mugs and started fixing something as Riddle observed the house.

"What are you doing?" Tom asked her softly.

"Food…" Cordelia muttered. Tom took the time to observe the cottage from inside. He would have helped but he did not trust himself with anything right now. He was still on edge.

After a few minutes, she brought four steaming cups.

Two had cakes in them and two had a brown liquid. Tom could smell the chocolate, though.

"Chocolate is good for the cold." She softly muttered and placed them on the thick rug by the fire.

She summoned a few pillows and a couple of blankets from the adjoining room and Tom and she slumped down.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

The room was toasty warm. He was sipping the hot chocolate delicately.

The cake and this was probably the first morsel of food he had in days.

His fingers were still interlaced with Cordelia's. He had immediately found them as soon as she sat. There was some sort of relief that traveled through him as soon as he touched her warm skin. She was here. She was alive.

"You should sleep…" Cordelia broke the silence.

Tom looked at her. He was still struggling with words. He just nodded

He did not how it happened exactly. He was too exhausted. But within the next five minutes, the cups and everything had traveled back to the kitchen and he and Cordelia were curled up against each other under the blankets by the fire.

He breathed in deeply, taking in her scent and before he knew, he was knocked out.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

Cordelia woke up because of a feeling of wetness. She blinked her eyes. The fire was burning its last embers and the wetness was from her sweating torso.

But she was still so comfy, she snuggled in closer to Tom. But then her sweat made her get up…

She yawned and removed the blanket from herself. She covered Tom properly and walked to the window.

The sky was lightening, at least enough for a winter morning.

Cordelia was about to cast Tempus when she realized the sheer exhaustion her magic was facing. Tom had been right. She should have used magic sparingly. But she wanted to get out Tom from that hellhole so desperately that she did not pay attention to anything.

She glanced at Tom, he was sleeping peacefully, his breathing even.

She sighed. He was still struggling with his emotions. Mostly with displaying them. He had been relieved to see her, she knew that in a blink. It was as if somebody had removed a mountain from him. She knew he had been scared but he had let it all out as anger.

She did not mind. She knew he was not angry at her as much as he was angry at himself, the world and the culprit.

But she was becoming a weakness. He was so unsettled about his feelings for her that people would exploit it. Her Uncle definitely would.

She needed to have a chat with him about it.

She reached out inside her magical cores. Her reserves were greatly depleted. She needed to charge them.

She was not mad or scared by her accident. She was so used to near death experiences that this did not mean much. She was, however, mildly irritated. It had disrupted her plans.

She knew it was Renatus. She recognized the magical signature. She also knew that Tom had avenged it. If he was acting a little sane, it was because he had taken out a lot of anger on somebody.

She just did not know what he did. She would need to ask him about it. If he had hurt Lestrange in a conspicuous way, then both of them should be prepared for the backlash that it would bring.

She glanced at Tom again. He looked so innocent and vulnerable when he slept like that. So much, that she often forgot how dark he was.

She almost felt sorry for Renatus, almost.

She opened up her blouse. She was wearing a tank top that she had brought from future underneath it. She quickly left the blouse slightly closer to Tom.

She had learned this trick from Andy, who always left one of her worn clothing beside Teddy when she wandered off so that he could smell her and sleep peacefully.

She quickly went inside, grabbed another spare blouse and put a black cardigan on top of it, just for the show.

That cardigan would do nothing for the outside snow, but she went to the back door anyway and stepped on the ankle-deep layer of snow barefoot.

If Cordelia was not a child of magic, she would have frozen in the hail in a minute. It was that cold.

But Cordelia was a child of magic, and as soon as she stepped on the snow, the snow melted from her warmth.

Cordelia quickly began walking towards the tree groves and the snow kept melting wherever she placed her feet. A simmering blue color began coming to her from all directions.  
Cordelia was drinking in the magic from the surroundings.

In fact, within a minute, the magic had raised her from the ground and she walked a couple of inches above the snow.

As soon as she went near the heart of the tree grove, the magic began pouring from all the trees.

Cordelia was slowly raised above the ground. She had closed her eyes and she hovered in the air, as if she was in a cradle.

She opened her eyes and the glowing green color of her eyes saw the first rays of sun on the horizon.

"It begins…" She gave a solemn look to the light and let the magic do its thing.

***********'

Note: I do not own Kiss me by Ed Sheeran.

 **I know that all of you again want to kill me (again) since there were too many perfect moments for a kiss and I did not seize any of them. There is a reason for that which Tom will explain in next chapter.**

 **The other personal pet peeve is that I want their first kiss to be at Hogwarts, because it is home to both of them.**

 **It is going to happen in the next 3-5 chapters when they make it back. Don't worry. Meanwhile, they are going to get more intimate without an actual liplock as they utilize the winter break. So, don't curse me.**

 **But I hope all of you liked the chapter considering Cordelia is back in her form and is fine again and I have confirmed that the culprit was Renatus (** ** **It was a no-brainer, really)** and because there was a lot of fluff.  
**

 **PLEASE REVIEW.**

 **Next up: What Tom did to Renatus? AND More…**

 **Stay hooked. :)**


	27. Chapter 21: Blood

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances and nineteen years later. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue"**

 **Chapter 21: Blood**

 **Tom's POV**

 _Blood had always fascinated Tom. The sticky, wet crimson liquid always caught his eye and never left it. There was something glorious about it, almost ethereal. Tom had first glimpsed it when he was 3._

 _Billy Stubbs had stubbed his toe in the playground and there it was, the blood. And apparently, flow of blood meant that Billy was hurting, that he was in pain._

 _Just at that moment, Tom thought Billy deserved it. Billy had killed his pet snake a week ago. Tom had not been happy and Mrs. Cole had said nothing. She thought Billy had saved Tom from the snake. Billy got a pat on his back for killing Tom's friend._

 _Even though Tom was tempted to make Billy hurt again and again because the boy kept antagonizing him, Tom had resisted. Simply because the fascination made him lose control and Tom did not like losing control._

 _Tom had been four when his fascination got limited. He had been in the church. Something had happened. Tom did not remember clearly. He had said something, disobeyed or laughed. Maybe laughed. Yes, he remembered now. Tom had thought that the sermons were boring and suddenly the pastor's voice had turned squeaky._

 _Other children had quietened quickly from a glare of matron. Tom hadn't and he had paid._

 _Caned. He had purple bruises all over the body but what had caught his attention were his fingers. They were not working. They looked mangled and broken and a couple of them had bones peeping out with blood. It had hurt, it had hurt a lot._

 _Tom still liked the sticky liquid. It was the only warm thing he had access to. But it hurt and so Tom was not sure about blood anymore._

 _His fingers were like new the next morning._

 _In the next couple of years, Tom was caned a lot and his fingers got mangled each time. Every time he missed a guitar tune, every time a fellow orphan complained about him, every time he just looked at something intently._

 _His relationship with blood grew complex. He liked it because it was warm and he hated it because its presence meant pain for him._

 _He liked it when somebody who was mean to him got bloodied. It meant they were in pain. He felt a sense of camaraderie with them because frankly, Tom was the only one who bled at least twice a week in the orphanage. And Tom did not think he deserved it._

 _All he had wanted was a little amusement, so what if he made the papers fly sometimes or made the spoons dance. Or what if he used a little extra force to make the ball fly higher in the playground._

 _It was all fun. Harmless._

 _They stopped him from playing guitar, they stopped his entry in church, they restricted his meals, and they gave him so many looks._

 _He wished they would not have done that. Not after what they did to him in certain nights. The candles, the chanting, tying him to his bed. Tom went through all of that quietly, hoping that complying would make things easier. Even after all that, they would not let Tom be. Tom was still evil. Devil, one of the sisters called him._

 _Tom did not mind. He was used to being alone, he was used to being a recluse, playing on his own. He was used to people stealing his meals, tearing his books, killing his snakes. He took it all in stride. It hurt, sometimes a little more than it hurt when he bled but Tom made do with it._

 _The first time Tom made someone bleed was accidental. That horrendous boy, Simon… He was not from the orphanage but he lived nearby._

 _He had taken Tom at the top of the building and threatened Tom. He had taken off his pants and was asking Tom to do something. Tom had not understood. He was but seven. But he remembered that Simon had taken other little kids from park and they had all been crying afterwards. He had also seen him do something with one of the other neighborhood boys. It had distinctively sounded like something Martha did with the old Mr. Wool. Although, she never appeared that hurt._

 _All Tom knew was that it hurt, so he refused. Simon had not been happy. He had picked Tom and threatened to throw him down from the building. Tom had been scared and he reacted. He landed on the roof safely and Simon flew and hit one of the large metal pipes and broke his head. There was so much blood. Simon never woke up so Tom ran away._

 _That was when Tom realized that by making others bleed, he could stop them from hurting him. He started using his powers as defense. Slowly to offense. If they tried to bully him, he attacked even if they had not touched him. It felt so nice to be not afraid._

 _Slowly Tom matured. He understood concepts like fear, attack, hurt and pain better. But it did nothing for his primal survival instincts. He always fought back._

 _Tom was still used to being hurt. His own blood did not faze him. He was afraid of being hurt and in pain but he expected it. He could tame physical pain. He was so used to it._

 _The first time he realized that was after one of the bombings of London Blitz. After a horrific night, Tom had went out to explore and he had stumbled on a sight of bombing._

 _Body parts lay strewn, blood all over. It did not faze him. He had never cared about people much._

 _But as he was exploring, a giant piece of glass had cut across his palm and out came blood. It did not bother him. It stung, yes. But it did not bother Tom._

 _The first time anyone's blood had bothered Tom was Cordelia's._

 _Her body falling and blood coming out from the back of her head…and….the faint smell of salt. It was the first time that blood made Tom feel sick. He did not take anything to sort it. No, he deserved the discomfort for not being able to save her._

 _But wait a minute, where was he?_

 _A white room…Lights blinked…went out and came back on._

 _The corridor with the Transfiguration classroom. None was there and next second, he saw Lia falling, falling._

 _She hit her head and blood, so much blood._

 _Tom rushed to her, "Lia…Lia…" Touching her blood horrified him._

 _Soon, her nose began bleeding and then her eyes began bleeding and Tom began hyperventilating. He saw a dark shadow lurking._

 _He yelled, "Stop…" It did not stop and began running away. Lia disappeared from his arm. Tom began running after the shadow. It was a maze, a maze full of displaced Hogwarts corridors. Eventually he caught up with the shadow, holding him with the nape of his neck._

 _He did the only thing that comforted him. Spilling blood of those responsible. But the shadow was just a shadow. It dissolved. No matter how hard Tom tried to find it, he couldn't._

Tom was restless and he woke up with a feeling of hollowness, like he had not achieved something.

He glanced to his side. Lia was sleeping peacefully and it was still dark. He knew he had barely slept for a couple of hours.

He touched one of her hair curls gently and pushed it behind her ear. He slowly kissed her forehead and her cheek.

He could not describe how relieved and happy her sight made him. She was alive with her usual cheeky smile.

He thought he would go insane because of her absence. His mind had no clarity, he was on edge, he was just….He went back to his primal state.

He especially lost it after what Adler told him. Renatus, Renatus was going to suffer. That was all he could think in his rage.

He again glanced at her innocent face. He wondered if she would be sick if she discovered what he had done. She came from a dark family but Tom had never met anyone who loved people more.

Nonetheless, Tom had done it and he did not regret it one bit. He would do it a thousand times in a flash.

After he came back from the infirmary, he had tried going to Renatus' room but it was warded. Tom could have destroyed them but that would have caught attention. And even though, Tom was in a furious, primal mode, he had managed to reason that it was not the best idea.

Revenge was a dish best served cold. Now, Tom did not have the patience of sitting for longer. But he could wait till morning. For the sake of Lia.

In the morning, he bid his goodbyes to the Blacks and Abraxas, saw Lia leaving through the entrance hall on a stretcher and caught Renatus watching Cordelia with a gleeful expression.

Tom was ready to set his plan into motion. He wandlessly compelled Renatus to come to the seventh floor after Dinner.

He spent the day moving about. He was still feeling broken but he had a purpose. All those who saw him thought him to be grieving.

He did not attend any meals instead choosing to slowly rewind the torture he had in store for Renatus.

He could not use too dark a spell. The school was on an alert. He would be caught in blink. No, it had to be legal, painful and time consuming.

When Renatus came to Seventh floor, he was stunned, gagged, bound and taken to the room of requirement which had taken the form of a dark dungeon.

First, Tom did a complicated mind magic. Lia had pointed it out to him as a mental torture technique that people used to decree someone insane.

The spell was not torturous. What it did was simply manipulate the memory of the event. Renatus would remember none of it unless Tom willed him to, and he would forget as soon as Tom let go. He would never understand why he was scared or paranoid.

Another spell Tom did was a pain heightening one. It apparently stimulated the pain receptors of body. Tom did it multiple times to exponentially enhance the effect.

The torture was simple.

Tom woke Renatus and spent the rest of the night casting neat Diffindos all over his body.

Renatus had wanted blood. He would get it.

And he gave Lia pain, so he will get it, hundredfold if Tom could pull it.

Next he used a simple moderate acidic potion they brewed in first year and gently dropped it in each of the cut.

Renatus soon passed out of pain.

Tom healed him in one spell, leaving the acid inside the body.

He did it once again through the night, healed Renatus again, fed him a lot of befuddlement draught and willed him to forget it.

He disillusioned both of them and dumped Renatus on his bed.

Renatus woke up with no memory of it but completely disoriented and confused. Though, everytime he met Tom's eyes, he felt the pain of all the cuts and remembered all of it. Only to forget it within a few seconds before he could comprehend or make sense of it.

Secondly, if he had a single ill thought about Cordelia, his body felt momentarily that he was on fire. Enough to make him forget about Cordelia. Next moment, he was completely fine.

Tom made Renatus question his own sanity.

He did this for all the three nights and played with his mind during the day.

He glanced again at Cordelia's face, turned himself over, wrapped his arms around her, pulled her closer, and pecked her hair. Renatus deserved everything he got and more. With that thought, Tom closed his eyes and let Cordelia's scent distract him to slumber.

 **Tom's POV**

When Tom woke up, he felt well rested. Gone was the exhaustion and the wariness of the past few days.

His hands were away from Lia but he could smell her and he could feel the weight of her body over him. He glanced down. She was using his chest as a pillow. He could not help it, he smiled. He raised his hand to touch her head and as soon as he did, she rose a little and greeted him with her big, green eyes. She had a small, self-indulgent, lazy smile. She rose from his chest and placed her head on the crook of his shoulder and resting her palm on his heart, "Sleep. We still have some time."

"I am fine." Tom shook his head.

"I woke up a little earlier. The snow is worse. I swear it is like 4 inches here." She nodded and informed him lazily.

"Well, it is warm here." Tom said, " _It is warm beside you."_ He muttered in his head.

"I know…" She tightened her arms around him.

He could not pinpoint it but something had changed between the two of them yesterday.

For example, he still felt a relentless urge to brush his lips on hers. He did not think that she would mind but Tom wanted to get a handle of his feelings before he made any sudden move.

He wrapped his left arm around her and took her palm in his with the right, squeezing it slightly, "What time is it?"

"It is a little after six. We aren't due at Gringotts until eight so we have time. It is not like that we are going to bath in such a cold weather. Grooming Spells it is " She shuddered.

"You don't like the cold." Tom guessed.

She pinched her nose and shook her head. She added thoughtfully, "Though it is not so bad with you beside me."

Tom could not help but let out a chuckle at her antics. He had missed her. He kissed her hair again.

"We will have to come up with an arrangement for the rest of the holidays." She was thinking hard.

"You are not sneaking to see me again. I will not be called a bad influence." Tom gave her an ultimatum.

"Believe me, I am the bad influence, not you." Cordelia snorted, "And as for sneaking, that is my favorite hobby. I am not going to change it for you. The thrill is amazing." She said cuddling closer, although there was literally no space between the two of them.

Tom laughed lightly and she joined him eventually, rolling her eyes.

He tried to tighten his arms again and he turned on his side, taking her with him. Their legs entwined and Tom just looked in her eyes.

Now, he knew what had changed. They were touching each other more than usual, without even realizing. Tom was not that surprised. He hated touches from other people besides Cordelia. More like, he was not used to their touches. But ever since Cordelia had hugged him, he had become more and more comfortable with her touches. Not just comfortable, he basked in her touches.

"Feeling better?" She asked, glancing at him with her eyes.

He nodded, nuzzling her nose.

They lay quietly for a few moments.

"We should iron out a few details." Cordelia began.

Tom nodded.

"I would have done this properly in Hogwarts but we have an hour and a short summary will have to suffice." She looked at him with concern.

'I grasp things rather quickly." Tom said with a dry smile.

She hit him on his shoulder and he gave a cheeky laugh.

"First, it might be a little weird but I will be cold and distant in the Alley initially. I need to play the pureblood bint and it is an insurance against the goblins. They respect me and are ready to help me but goblins are class A manipulators. They like to have compromising information. The only way they could do it today is through you. If I pretend that you are a stepping stone, they might just let us do our thing our way. Once you have your inheritance, they cannot really do a thing because Goblins swore fealty to the Founders' line. They would never admit it publically but it is a fact and we will use it once you have your ring." She informed.

"Okay… and how are you so sure about the inheritance?" Tom asked.

"Remember that thing about something in Black blood. Well, it makes me sensitive to magic. I can hear the magic in the blood of people sing on different frequencies, I guess. Yours is pretty darn similar to the blood wards of Hogwarts." She informed with a guilty look, "And I will you more about it once you have your ring and your inherited mental barriers are in the place. It makes me powerful but so very vulnerable. My magic keeps warning me to not risk it."

"Then you shouldn't risk it," Tom said decisively.

"But you are getting your inheritance, by hook or by crook." She said adamantly.

"We will see." Tom said, noncommittedly.

""Okay. A few things we need to remember. One, your family magic will give you mental barriers as long as you wear your lord ring. Which is a good thing since the rings are cursed against anyone who tries to remove them. So, we can remove the mind arts from the urgent list and take it on an easier pace. Two, your family ring is an anchor for your family magic. Until you can accustom yourself to the magic and attune itself until it becomes second nature to call upon it, you will need to focus on your ring to call it. Third, do not call the family magic in front of the goblins. It will be an ancient totem and will likely be more temperamental. In fact, the first time, you need to call it when you are alone so that the magic does not try to harm someone else since it very well cannot harm you. Fourth, there are two inheritance tests. One is genealogical and is based on blood. The other is based on blood and family magic. We won't do the genealogical one since it requires a sacrifice, which will be your blood. Since Slytherin is very old, it is likely that the test might just drain you entirely. Too dangerous even though it will tell all your familial relations. We will do the family magic and blood one. In that test, Goblins will ask seven drops of your blood to put in an old magical goblet. That goblet has stored all the family magics in it or a trace of them so it can identify the magic of your blood and tell if you are eligible for any. It won't go generations back, but it will tell you all the families you are related to, not how you are related but just their names and whose lordship is available to you. If you choose to claim the lordships, the magic will judge you and you will be given your ring. I am expecting Slytherin and Gaunts. Gaunts is a disgraced name but their wizangomat seats have not been discarded. It might prove to be useful and we can create a new reputation for the house of Gaunt. It is better leadership or something. Gaunts did not marry outside the family a lot so I am not sure who else you might be related to. Fifth, you will not be able to explore the vaults in a day. I suggest that we take a Gringotts endless supply bag and shop. You need to look the part of a pureblood lord. We can return back in the vacation. I have to scour the Black vaults. I can do that while you check the Slytherin ones."

"You won't be coming with me." Tom broke the silence with this point,. He was alright with everything up until now.

"Well, vaults, especially family vaults are secretive places. You don't just give access to anybody." Cordelia said nonchalantly.

"You are not anybody." Tom said quietly.

"Yeah well, I never said I am. But it is your legacy Tom. You will be seeing it for the first time. I am not sure I want to pile on…and I did not want to assume as well…" She began.

"You are coming with me unless you have an extremely busy break and cannot take out the time. Actually, I will wait until you can take out the time and we will go together." Tom said adamantly.

"Don't do it because…Tom…" She made a face.

"Lia, we have been sharing everything, spells, potions, those secret chambers. I trust you and I would rather not do it without you since I won't be getting the inheritance without you." Tom argued.

"You could…I just moved the plan a little quickly." She said a little hesitantly.

"Whatever, this is my wish. I would really like if you came.' Tom requested.

She nodded, " We will come between new year and Yule."

"Also, we will have to live in the Black manor for the rest of the break if you choose to come. The Blacks have decided to boycott all the parties and will be celebrating Yule quietly. Malfoys will be joining us in the Black manor. The Longbottoms were all set to join us but they had plans of leaving the country for the break. They will join us after New Year's Eve. We can visit Malfoy manor but that is about it." She said a little dimly.

"You are not happy with that?" Tom asked, a little amused.

"Not really. They will all be together and too many people. They won't let me have a moment's peace. Malfoy manor would have been quieter. Abe knows when to leave me alone. Uncle Rion gives me space as well. Now, all of them and the attack. It is a classic mix of bad situations." Cordelia made a face, not childish but a cross between mature disdain and a blast of cuteness.

He did not know how she pulled it.

"I think I can brave your family." Tom muttered.

'So, you will stay…" She asked hopefully.

'Yes, can't leave you alone to the wolves, can I? They may just pay you less attention now." Tom rolled his eyes.

 **"** You would do that for me…"Cordelia batted her lashes with mock adoration.

"You are reminding me awfully of Aimee Parkinson right now. I would rather that you don't," Tom said dryly.

Cordelia pretended to be mock affronted with wide eyes and an open mouth, "How could you be so cruel?"

Tom did not look amused.

"Okay, I was just trying to cheer you up." Cordelia dropped the act and Tom begun laughing at her defeated expression.

"You like seeing me miserable, don't you?" Cordelia narrowed her eyes.

"You look adorable. I could not help it…' Tom began hiccupping.

"Glad I could be of your amusement." She muttered.

Tom let out another roll of laughter.

"You are mean…" She said miserably.

"Err…I am sorry…' Tom muttered, as he went into another fitful laughter.

Cordelia stuck out her tongue.

"That is very mature." Tom said after his chuckles halted somewhat.

"Alright, you win this time. Now back to business. I have one important thing then you can go back to laughing as if you are watching Dumbledore dance in a tutu." Cordelia sniffed.

 **Cordelia's POV (Scene continuation)**

That send Tom in another fit of laughter. That was when Cordelia realized that he was not simply laughing. He was hysterical.

She grabbed his shoulders and shook them, "Tom…"

Tom kept laughing. She lightly slapped both his cheeks, brought his head forward and looked at him, "Look at me. I am fine. You are fine. We are fine."

Tom did not stop. She took his fingers and bit two of them hardly.

Tom began hiccupping, and large tears began coming out. Cordelia hugged him tightly, "I swear, I will never die on you. I swear that Tom, I won't."

She began rubbing circles on his back.

"That day you said that I won't be able to tackle when I felt too much. I couldn't…I couldn't tackle it. I was going insane Lia, insane." He cried, hugging her tighter, "I stopped, I just stopped functioning. I did not want to do anything. I just wanted to see you in front of me, happy and fine. I couldn't think anything else…"

He sobbed.

Seeing him like that, Cordelia could not help it. Her eyes became wet too. She wished she could tell him that she understood. He had literally been dead to her for six years. She had not known if she would ever see him. She had cried, wept and done everything, dealt with every form of sorrow or grief to reach to him, so that she could make him happy.

She pulled his head and just kissed the top of his head, letting her tears flow unrestrained.

Tom held on tighter, putting his face below her neck, pressing into her bosom.

It was a solemn moment for both of them.

Tom eventually quieted down, but not before wetting the top of Cordelia's blouse with his tears completely.

"I am glad that you felt something…" Cordelia murmured, "But I am sorry that it was sad."

She kissed his forehead lightly. Tom looked at her, 'I don't know if I can tackle if something happens to you." He admitted.

"You think I will be fine if something happens to you?" she questioned with a forlorn smile.

"It is a side effect of being with people, Tom and caring for them. If you care, you can't see them hurt." She muttered.

Tom nodded gingerly.

"It can quickly become a weakness too." She cautioned lightly.

"I would still not exchange them for anything." Tom said decisively, "They might not be nice, but they fill a, they fill a hole inside." He swallowed, "Frankly, I am proud to have a weakness such as you, one who doubles as my strength. I won't be here without you, Lia." He looked seriously in her eyes.

"You will make me cry…" She said, tears escaping her eyes.

She did not think she would ever see the day when Tom would accept an emotional weakness like that, accept her like that.

Tom hands got hold of her face and gently wiped her tears. He rested his forehead against hers and shook his head.  
Cordelia took it to mean that he did not want her to cry.

She was about to say something when an alarm blared from her wand.

Her sadness vanished, to be replaced with alertness, "We should get going. There are only 30 minutes to our appointment and Goblins do not appreciate tardiness."

Tom nodded.

They got up.

Cordelia turned around to face him again, "Just one last thing."

Tom gave her a questioning look.

"I know we discussed this a bit but I have one advice. You are free to take it up or not. It is upto you." Cordelia sighed but she knew she looked dead serious. She was hoping that Tom would take the advice actually.

Tom nodded.

"We need to keep the inheritance or the news of it under tab. Not just for the first 10 days when your emancipation can be reversed but until we really need to announce it. Grindelwald is looking for allies. He has been dragging up old black magic and monstrosities. I am sure we will find such magic in Slytherin vault and if he realizes that the vaults are accessible. He won't leave you alone. I can give an oath on behalf of my family. They won't betray it unless they all want to be squibs." She said drily but went on with her concerned look, "As for Hogwarts, we can call for secrecy since you are the heir. Everybody in the school will be ties to the oath by magic or life. We just need to keep it from outside newspapers. Everybody else can technically know if they take oaths to not reveal it."

"Why would I not go with it, Lia? It is a sensible advice." Tom shook his head, "You are too careful around me." He complained.

"Well, you are pretty Moody." She shot back.

"Says the woman who flips moods like ripples of water." Tom shot back.

Cordelia could not hide her grin. But she shook her head, let the argument go and dragged Tom to one of the bedrooms.

 **Another update. Hope people liked this one.**

 **This is the first time that I have actually given Tom's perspective on his childhood. And there was a lot of fluff.**

 **Sorry for not getting back to most reviews. Will do it this week….But I read all of them, multiple times. So PLEASE REVIEW.**


	28. Chapter 22: Diagon Alley

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan.

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) This is a gender bender. Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing

* * *

.

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue** ** _"_**

* * *

 **Chapter 22: The Goblins**

 **Tom's POV**

Tom was feeling a bit uneasy. Cordelia was staring at him. Not just staring, it was as if she was analyzing his every body part.

She hummed and then began to slash and streak her wand on the casual silk robes she had on bed.

She apparently carried robes of all sorts in free sizes inside her trunk.

She was just adjusting the size for him.

In her words, the tailoring would not be professional, but it will do. As if Tom was complaining.

It was a Bottle Green robe.

She herself was wearing a matching robe. Hers just matched with her eyes and had slightly feminine sleeves along with silver and gold accents streaking the robes on edges.

"Put this on… I will take out our cloaks. Nobody should be able to recognize us in the alley. We are flooing to Leaky Cauldron. I have asked the goblins to serve us breakfast between the inheritance and the emancipation ritual." She muttered.

"They will serve us breakfast." Tom gave her a surprised and questioning look.

"They are nice creatures. Deviousness is a natural element of goblins. They see gold everywhere. But they value respect, honor, loyalty, ambition, bravery. I just understand them. I also learnt Gobbledegook so that I could speak with them in their language. They consider that as a sign of honorable intentions. They help me out when they can. They are just general manipulators. It is in their nature." She muttered, holding up the robe.

Tom was, time and time again, taken aback by her easy acceptance of everything. This quality of her was novel. Still thinking, Tom put it on his sleek pants and white shirt.

She had popped the trunk open and had pulled out two long and wide black cloaks.

"We would look very suspicious in them." Tom immediately said.

"Yes, but we won't stand out. Most purebloods go to the Bank like this when they want something done secretly." She informed, putting on her cloak and pulling the hood over her head. Tom could still see her eyes though.

He nodded, pulling the cloak over himself as well. Suddenly, he remembered something. The fee for the rituals.  
He had saved enough for the genealogical one, because that was all he knew about but…

He decided to ask.

Cordelia gave him a look, "Goblins are waiving it off. You will be opening one of the most loaded vaults back up. And I certainly give them a lot of business."

Tom did not say anything.  
"Don't be embarrassed." She softly said. She was lacing her cloak from behind. It looked like a complicated knot.

Tom looked up. He was surprised that she caught him. But then he wondered why he was surprised at all.

"Not having money is nothing to be ashamed about. Frankly, I think the world would be a better place if people stopped being so proud of their money. I know it makes life easier. I know it has a lot of pull but it is material Tom. It can never give you the things you should be really proud of. It won't give you your magic or your brilliance, or your leadership or political shrewdness. It won't give you your goodness, your heart or your strength. It won't give you true friends or followers. It won't give you the vision to create something better. It is a fleeting thing. I know it is a very important means to achieve things and you will have ample money from today but your money does not determine your worth. At least, not to me." She said seriously.

"What did I do to get you?" Tom murmured. His eyes were glistening again.

"Now, now….don't be so emotional. We have places to be, work to do..." Cordelia gave him a mock reprimand.

Tom chuckled. Cordelia rolled her eyes, smiled and offered her hand, "C'mon."

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

Diagon Alley sure looked different in winters. There was snow off the pavement. Most of the shops were not open. Perhaps getting a late start because of the cold weather.

Tom himself was feeling a bit warm.

The other Tom, the proprietor of leaky Cauldron was friendly with Cordelia. He had insisted that they drink hot cocoa before stepping out.

There were five minutes in their appointment and they were almost at the steps of Gringotts.

This would not be Tom's first time in there. He had entered this bank each summer to collect his student fund.

But today that warning, 'Enter stranger, Take heed' did not seem so hostile. He was entitled. He had something of his inside and he would have its ownership soon.

There was still some rush in the bank.

According to Cordelia, people were getting out funds for the Christmas presents and greetings. The pureblood families always sent token to most other pureblood families. Allies, family, friends, children, servants.

They had a long list and they needed a big haul.

That made Tom think. He would need presents too. He had never received one, nor given one. He might not receive one this time either. His eyes fell on Cordelia. He reconsidered. There was no way she was leaving a chance to give him presents. But he had presents to give. He would be staying with the Blacks and Malfoys. He needed to reciprocate. He could get tokens for his court members. And Cordelia. He had to get her something…If he got his money, that is.

But he shook himself out of the thoughts for they had reached a dais with a goblin.

"Merry met Master Goblin, my acquaintance and I have an appointment with Department of Blood and Lineage. My account manager Rook must have arranged it. Could you please inform him of my presence here and lend us an escort to the department?" Cordelia said kindly but not without assertiveness.

He did not understand how she was so kind.

"Yes, my lady. He will be informed and you will have your escort. Hornclaw, lead them to the Department of blood and Lineage. " The Goblin took one look at Cordelia's face and called forth a teller.

Once they were inside the maze of Gringotts Corridor, Cordelia removed her hood. Her hair was tied in a tight bun. Tom followed her move.

His heartbeat was increasing and he could feel the wetness of sweat even in this cold weather….Tom was nervous. He suddenly felt Cordelia's fingers interlacing with his firmly.

Well, he would brave it for her.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

Tom looked occupied when they walked out of Gringotts. As if a hundred thoughts were troubling him.

He had been ecstatic at first, at hearing the goblet accept his claim to the Lordship. He had a satisfied expression as the magic wrapped around his ring finger and the ring of Slytherin appeared, gleaming distinctly in the rays of sun that escaped from the window of the ritual room of Goblins.

But now, he looked like something was bothering him, not just a little, but a lot.

She still had his fingers interlaced in hers and she tightened her grip on him, making him look up to her.

She jerked her head to silently ask what was bothering him.

Tom sighed, "I once thought that things would get much simpler if I got my inheritance. They are anything but. I have to do so much. Take care of the vast Slytherin finances, hire lawyers, appoint an account manager, create an inventory of everything in the vaults, take care of the alliances….And I know so little. I mean I have read books about financial maintenance and stuff… but it is just so much. I don't even know if the alliances are still alive or where to find those creatures or families….understandably their names have changed over time…." Tom looked overwhelmed.

Cordelia did not bother about the crowd. They were covered in their cloaks anyway. Tom was engulfed in a hug, "And you need to realize that no one expects you to do wonders in a couple of hours. These things take time Tom. Even I who has been preparing to know the Black dealings inside out had taken years to come to a level where I am competent. And that is when my family and elders have a record of everything and are ready to assist me. You are figuring it out for the first time, in a long while. It is going to be fine. We have 20 days, we will at least accomplish something…. And if we don't, it is okay. You have until you are 17, that is when you 'need' to claim all your seats. Right now, the emancipation is just a way to get you away from the hellhole. " She muttered.

She never called it orphanage. It was not one. It was a forced cage for Tom and she understood that.

She felt tom's arms around her waist. He did not say anything, but his arms told her that he was, at least, considering her words.

"People will eat me alive…" Tom said reluctantly.

"There is no way they can do that, Tom. You are powerful, you are underestimating yourself. You can play the pureblood game with aces and come out at top. I am saying that we have time till your 17th but the truth is we will have it done by the end of this school year…." Cordelia argued back, looking him in the eye, "And they won't be able to do it anyway, because if they even try, I will fry them and serve them up to lions…" She said unabashedly.

The last bit, as she had thought, made Tom laugh.

"And where would you get the lions?" He teased her.

"Let me see…Father has some trading relations in India and Africa…I am sure I could buy some. I, anyway, think that the dungeons of Black manor are quite dull. I am sure I can convince my family." She said drily.

That sent Tom into another chuckle, "And Lions can brighten up the dungeons. Why not snakes?" He asked lightly.

"That is a good idea. We should unleash both Lions and Snakes. They are a formidable combination." She said in a determined voice.

"Not as formidable as you." Tom bent down and pecked her forehead to show how grateful he was.

"Of Course, they aren't…" She said sarcastically but leaned into him but then seriously said, 'I know I was supposed to tell you the blood thing, but we don't have time. We quickly need to buy you a few things before a search party arrives for me…" She said regretfully.

"Do you see me complaining?" Tom lightly asked.

She just rolled her eyes and dragged him away.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

They spent the next hour buying necessities as Cordelia put it, including clothing, of all forms, night wear, casual wears, formal wears, semi-formal wears, pants, shirts and underclothes. Cordelia had been picking fabrics, comparing color tones, materials and textures and placing them against Tom's skin tone.

But after they had gone into an alley and emerged without their cloaks.

She said Tom still needed a full wardrobe, but she would rather have her French seamstress do the rest for Tom. Tom could not imagine what a full wardrobe would look like. She had bought at least 30 robes and that did not even account for quarter of the wardrobe that Tom needed according to her.

They had bought a basic compartment trunk divided into a wardrobe, library and a large shelfed room for other Knick knacks. Apparently, the shopkeeper here was incapable of producing one like Cordelia. Cordelia said it was better to have two anyway. That way one could be a secret like hers.

Apparently, no one in her family knew about her secondary trunk. Cordelia had told him that happily with that mischievous smile.

Tom had wanted to ask her if she told her family anything. Like anything? But that did not mean that he was not heartened by her trust in him. She told him before she told her family, if she would tell them anything at all.

They spent part of the hour in the Apothecary and part in Flourish and Blotts.

Cordelia was determined for him to have everything available to him.

She also ordered high end stationaries, which included very expensive personalized quills, from another shop.

There were two other Book shops but she said they should save them for later. She would like to browse a little more leisurely.

She then proceeded to enter a shop that sold dragon hide products.

She bought several holsters. Half a dozen for him but few more, as she needed to send token gifts to people.

Next thing they bought were dragon hide boots. Another dozen of them.

"Well, they need to coordinate with your robes…." Cordelia gave him a look when he was about to protest, "Consider them my gift if you don't wish to spend on them."

That Tom had not allowed. For the first time, he could afford everything and he was not letting her pay.

He was carrying around a Gringotts bag of endless Galleons which was linked to one of his vaults.

Tom put an end to the shopping spree when he saw Cordelia's features getting pale. Her smiles and her cheeky mood had made him forget that she had just woken up from a grievous injury and they had not slept that long in the night. She had slept even less.

She had not protested, "Well, I assume we can come back for other stuff. We have the essentials. Let us have some ice cream…" She declared.

"It is cold…" Tom pointed out.

She just gave him a look that said you better not argue with me over ice cream.

"Okay, we will have ice cream…" Tom murmured in defeat.

So another half an hour later, Tom and Cordelia were sitting by the ice cream parlor and eating ice cream.

Cordelia was on her third sundae and munching the nuts happily. Tom was grudgingly on his second.

He liked ice cream, despite the cold.

Tom only remembered that Cordelia was not supposed to be out when a house elf popped next to them in some while and addressed Cordelia, "Mistress Corrie, the family is worried. They are on their way here. I came to warn you as you asked me to."

"Thank you Cherry. Now disappear before they see you. Can you prepare the guest room on the second floor of the manor, the one at the end? It will be for the rest of the break. Earth colors and neutrals and stock up on the toiletries. Tell Rigby, it is on my orders." Cordelia lightly patted her lips with the napkin.

She had just finished her sundae, a little after Tom finished his.

"I better pay the guy. They will most likely drag me home." Cordelia got up.

"I already did." Tom informed her, 'When we ordered."

"You should not have…" Cordelia admonished him.

"I owed you a treat, at least…" Tom raised his brow.

"Very well, Lord Slytherin…" Cordelia smiled at him.

Tom liked the sound of Lord Slytherin but it did not stop him from being honest, "I will always be Tom for you, Lia."

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

Her uncle was glaring at her.

If Cordelia had not trained in composure, she would have laughed outright at his expression. She was currently wrapped in her mother's arm who also had arrived with her two Uncles (Arcturus and Hyperion), her Father, Orion, Alphard and Abraxas.

Her three cousins had been surprised to see Tom beside her but the adults were not paying them any attention. Their glares were set on her and Tom. Well, except for her mother and Uncle Rion.

Abraxas had relaxed after some time. He had likely linked the dots together in his head.

They were all currently standing in the hall of the Leaky Cauldron.

Her Uncle and Father's furious expression had sent the crowd scurrying. Even the proprietor had left the hall. And it was now laced in layers of privacy and silencing charms.

"I am fine…" She whispered to her mother, gently rubbing her shoulders.

Her mother gave her a dubious glance.

"Cordelia, this is highly rebellious. You were supposed to be in your bed, sleeping. Instead, you wandered off, to Diagon Alley of all the places. I did not expect such irresponsible shenanigans from you." Arcturus scolded with gritted teeth.

Her father was about to say something but Arcturus was not letting anyone speak.

That irritated Cordelia. He might be the head of family but he had no right to ignore her father like that.

"Well, I was feeling a bit peachy. I suppose I woke up earlier than I was meant to. I thought going out might change it, so I flooed over. I realized I had no money so went to Gringotts, I just happened to find Tom there. We spent some time in the shops under the heavy cloaks. I was perfectly safe since nobody could recognize me. He was keeping an eye on me. And then we had some ice cream because I wanted to and we were about to come to the manor. Completely safe." She explained leisurely.

"Cordelia…"Her uncle said in a warning tone.

"What did you mean by 'we'?" It was Altair Black who asked.

Cordelia ignored the smug smiles of Abraxas and Uncle Rion.

She instead pointedly looked at her father.

When he looked sheepish, she understood that her sarcastic message of 'Thank you so much for your help' had reached him.

Her uncle understandably missed all her talk with her father. The Father-daughter duo was used to secret public conversations after all. Instead, he looked miffed, "Answer him Cordelia. Who are we?"

"Oh, I thought it was quite obvious..." She took a dig at him and her amusement rose at her mother and Uncle Rion's sly smiles, "I invited Tom to spend the break with us at Black manor. I understand that Abraxas had planned to spend the break with him but due to unforeseen circumstances, they both dropped the plan in light of what happened to me. I simply could not allow their plan to go awry. So, since I ran into Tom in Gringotts today, I immediately took the opportunity to invite him. And fortunately, he had his luggage at hand in Leaky Cauldron." She smiled demurely at her uncle.

Sure, the farce would not last long but Cordelia had not technically lied. Tom's school trunk was packed and left in the inn. Alright, she had not lied too much. But well, she lied all the time.

"Cordelia, it is not safe.' Her uncle said pointedly.

"I believe that Uncle Rion told you about the oaths." Cordelia insisted.

"I do not understand how you could be taking this so lightly. You nearly died, Cordelia. And you insist on acting like a child. This is not the heiress I appointed. Think about the family." Arcturus argued.

"I am thinking about the family." Cordelia said forcefully. She considered Tom family. And her Uncle had made her raving mad now.

"Oh please explain to me how? You….." Her Uncle was forced to trail off because Cordelia interrupted him, "Accidents happen, Uncle. There are things beyond control. You can work your best to prevent them but they are a perennial inevitability. We knew that my life was in danger. I had people accompanying me to every place. Abraxas had me under a shield under that time. Not to mention that I was wearing my magic like a cloak. I did not expect that a blithering idiot, because he clearly does not know spell work, would cast a Stupefy Maxima on me. It addles the brain if it does not kill directly. I did not presume that a student would cast such a curse and go scot-free because the Auror department is that incompetent. Or maybe the Blacks don't carry as much influence as they like to portray. I am liking Britain less and less…" She spat, and continued, "But to insinuate that I am careless, as a person or as the heiress is an insult that I won't take silently. I, once I was made the heiress, had a will made ready. I am sure every 14 year old has the forethought of that. I also made contingencies, in case I was not dead but unable to perform my duties. You are welcome to ask Dorea if she received a missive from Gringotts or not. I appointed her as the interim Heiress. I have also been carrying out all my duties, as assigned by the family doctrine. I don't think that you have the right to call me irresponsible in light of that. Just because you all smothered me yesterday and upset me by insinuating that you would cage me within the house for private tutoring, I felt like I needed to get away. And I took precautions. I asked Cherry to put an elf shield over me. I was safe….." Cordelia had expected Tom to go rigid at the Hogwarts bit and he did.

"And it is not like that I am not coming back…three hours Uncle. Surely, I could be trusted to keep out of trouble in that." She spat again and she was planning to continue when a hand grabbed her arm gently. She knew that touch. It was Tom.

She turned to face him stoically.

" **You might want to go easy on your Uncle, Lia. He looks properly chastised. And I think after you are done, your mother will have a word with him. She looks really angry."** Tom hissed.

" **Well, he can't get away with screaming at me like that…."** Cordelia hissed back angrily **.**

 **"I don't think that anyone can leave unscathed after yelling at you..."** Tom said wryly **, "I just think that he has seen your confident side sufficiently to tie his tongue for a while. We should use the opportunity."**

 **"Aren't we already? I am pretty sure that all the adults look ready to faint…"** Cordelia quipped. It was a brilliant move by Tom. Talking in parseltongue was a perfect starter for the conversation about Tom's heritage as it saved so much explanation.

They both turned their heads away from each other to look at her Father and Uncles. They really did look like that cat got their tongue.

Her mother looked better. Just another proof that women were better at composure than men. She was instantly reminded of Draco, Sid and Ronald respectively. She nearly scoffed.

"You are a parselmouth." Her Uncle 'Arty' said, looking at Tom.

" **Way to state the obvious, old man…"** Cordelia muttered.

She was sure Tom was having a hard time hiding his grin.

Tom nodded.

"Cordelia, how could you?" her Uncle began again and then, Cordelia lost it.

"We both took the equal loyalty oath. Your family secret is safe." She said tartly. She was sure he did not care about her well being.

"Cordelia revealed it to me under extenuating circumstances," Tom began and Cordelia's eye met Alphard's, who thankfully looked abashed.

"She explained that she was no threat to my inheritance from Slytherin and well, we are allies…" Tom said simply.

"Slytherin..." Her Uncle muttered as if he had trouble comprehending.

As for the rest of the family, the faces were composed. Especially her cousins.

"I am the new Lord." Tom said carelessly.

She had told him that he was a natural. She turned around to give him a huge momentary beam before turning back with her haughty expression.

"You are a half blood." Her uncle said with accusation.

"Does not change the fact that the other half of my blood, which matters, is Slytherin or that I am wearing the Lord ring in my ring finger, Lord Black." Tom shot back.

Good. The only way you could get a pureblood to respect you was by showing that you had a backbone.

There was a dangerous silence for the next couple of minutes.

Tom had very subtly reminded her Uncle that both of them were at the same station despite Tom's age. In fact, Tom had an edge because he was the Lord of the founding family of one of the most prestigious magical schools in the world.

"You are 14. You cannot be a Lord." Her Uncle came up with a weak comeback.

"Well, we always have emancipation. In Slytherin's case, he did not even need that. The basic age for lordship in some really old families is 13. I am way over that." Tom swiftly informed.

It was the truth. Cordelia had not told this to Tom because she as a Black was not supposed to know this teensy detail. She had instead proposed emancipation.

"Of course, I am considered emancipated by default." Tom added.

There was a quiet silence.

"I really don't mean to cause trouble Lord Black. Abraxas and I had planned to spend the break together and Lord Malfoy had generously agreed. I declined his invitation in light of what happened to Cordelia. I did not think that it would be proper. But Cordelia was insistent. We need to work on some parselmagic techniques. Of course, we can do it in school but we were hoping to use the vacations. Since, she is well and on her way to recovery, I personally don't see a point of contention. I could, of course, take oaths to ensure safety of your family. However, the amount of oaths between Cordelia and I make them redundant. We cannot hurt each other because of our truce. And I assure you that Cordelia included her entire family in the protection oath. According to her, hurting her family is hurting her. You should really give her more credit, Sir." Tom said with a quiet confidence.

"Of course, I would understand if I am not welcome. I can make other arrangements for myself. However, I should warn you that revealing my heritage would cause anyone in your family a lot of pain. A curse took effect as soon as it was revealed to you. I plan to keep it under wraps until the war with Grindelwald blows over or I reach 17." Tom continued. He, very carefully did not mention how he cast the curse.

Cordelia had been ready to take oaths but Tom had reminded her of the tongue tying curse instead. She had still taken oaths. It would prevent her members from speaking about it without actively harming them. They just would not be able to speak about it.

Of course, they did not need to know that. They will just attribute it to the curse.

"There will be no need of other arrangements, Mr. Riddle or do you prefer Lord Slytherin?" It was Hyperion Malfoy who spoke.

"Riddle is fine, Lord Malfoy.' Tom nodded.

"I promised to host you this winter and I will see that the promise is fulfilled. Abraxas and I will move back to Malfoy Manor. You can stay with us. I am sure Cordelia would like to visit and will not be banned, considering both of you are hoping to learn more about a lost art." He offered.

It was a bait. Cordelia knew that and she knew that Tom understood. Uncle Rion had just threatened to take the Heir of Slytherin away from the Head of the house of Black and Uncle Arty would never permit that.  
He would want the influence of Lord Slytherin for himself.

"That won't be necessary. I abhor that you are making me out to be irrational for my just fears regarding Cordelia's security. Mr. Riddle is welcome to join all of us at Black manor. However, as redundant as it may seem, I would still prefer an oath." He looked directly at Riddle.

"I, Lord of the House of Slytherin, swear on my magic that no harm will come to the guests and family of Cordelia Faye Black, including her for my stay at Black Manor in the winter break of 1942 should I be promised same." Magic swirled around Tom.

Cordelia wanted to chortle. She now knew why her cousins were tongue tied about Tom's inheritance. Tom was very specific about the oaths he took and gave.

And to top it off, he had made her the primary of the oath and not her Uncle. It really did not change anything except denote that Tom valued her more than her Uncle.

Tom had also not used his name. He had taken her advice about his middle name seriously.

She looked at her Uncle for permission. She did not want to but it was an obligation. He nodded.

"I Cordelia Faye Black, Heiress to the House of Black, accept the terms of Lord Slytherin and offer him the protection and hospitality of House of Black for the winter break of 1942. So mote it be" She said in her musical voice.

"So mote it is." Tom agreed. Magic entered everyone present but most of it went into Tom and her.

Cordelia was looking paler though. She leant back and Tom caught her to support her.

"You should sit down. You should not have involved yourself in this excitement." He gently said. The ice from his eyes had vanished at her condition.

She nodded and together her mother and Tom shifted her to a seat. Tom's palm did not leave her shoulder.

"I assume you have questions for me but I am afraid that they need to wait. Cordelia needs her bed." Tom did not look at them, as he cast Aguamenti silently into the glass he conjured and offered it to Cordelia.

She took it. She was really feeling dizzy.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

Cordelia's father took her to the Black Manor with a Side-along apparition. The rest of them flooed into the Black manor.

He received nods from Orion and Alphard. He knew that he had won Alphard over because of how he took care of Cordelia in both of her injuries.

Abraxas just nudged him as they were walking together to floo. They both shared a triumphant smile before flooing over to the Black manor.

He decided to write to Abraxas Malfoy in favor of sharing a grateful public gesture.

Once Tom entered the manor, he realized it was ostentatious. But he also got why Lia did not like it too much there.

It was a lot stiffer than anything he associated with her. Lia was smiles and spring. That cottage that they had stayed in her suited her but not this.

Cordelia had apparently been taken to bed. Dorea and Lucretia and Cordelia's mother (Tom was not sure what to call her, maybe Madame Black would work.) had fussed over her, given her potions and put her to bed. Her appointment with the healer had been shifted to 4 in the evening.

They had thankfully left her in peace.

Lord Black had looked miffed at that but a single glare from Adelaide Malfoy had silenced him.

He had a room on the second floor. That was where every kid of House of Black had a room. Although their rooms were in the west wing, he was at the juncture of where east met west and only Cordelia's room was on the east.  
Apparently, she preferred a morning sun over evening sun and had thrown a fit as a child about it.

It was Dorea who told him that as she and Orion led him to his room.

It was their home.

Black Manor was the house of Arcturus Black and his family. Apparently, the other Blacks lived in a London Manor house, while Cordelia's parents lived in Black Chateau in France.

Dorea had a wistful expression as she talked about the Chateau in France.

"That place is like Corrie. Light, free, airy and absolutely delightful. The weather is also really nice…" Orion said informing.

They had, of course, congratulated him on his Lordship once they were safely inside his designated room.

"Don't mind Father. He is a little shaken by what happened to Cordelia. He is even more perturbed because the aurors have been unable to find anything. And he is also a little orthodox about the relation between a head and an heir or heiress…"Dorea told him.

Tom hid a smile at that. That is what Cordelia had said, but she had used a less kind word.

 _"His view on traditions is obsolete…"She had muttered as they were having ice-cream._

"We are not meeting formally for luncheon. Everybody is a little tired. An elf will serve you in the room. If you need to communicate with any of us, just call an elf and he will inform us." Dorea was a perfect hostess.

Tom nodded and thanked her and Orion.

As soon as they had left, Cordelia's elf Cherry popped into his form.

"Is she fine?" Tom asked in alarm.

"Yes, she is okay, Master Slytherin. She wanted me to give you this." She handed Tom an envelope.

It was a letter.

It was not Cordelia's handwriting but something mechanical. A dictation quill, perhaps.

 ** _Dear Tom,_**

 ** _I am sorry I am not there to greet you or get you adjusted. But I am too exhausted right now. I would have tried to stay up but I thought it would displease you as well as my family. I did not want to risk that._**

 ** _Your room is closer to mine. I asked Cherry to arrange it for you. I hope it is fine. I should be up before evening since I have a healer's appointment. I hope they give me a clean slate. I hate being tied to my bed._**

Tom snorted at that. Tied to bed! When did she ever obey decrees which bound her to bed?

 ** _I have asked Cherry to put an elf ward around the room so you will be safe if Uncle tries something untoward. Although, he shouldn't. Father, Mother and Uncle Rion will have his head. You have not met Uncle Polly and Aunt Ariel and Cassy. We should see them at dinner but I will be around and we can discuss it before the dinner. Although, I believe I provided you with enough background to be able to deal with them with tact without my presence._**

 ** _Once I am cleared of my health ailment, I should be able to put a parseltongue ward around your room which will make it impervious. I was experimenting with wards and parseltongue before Hogwarts and I believe they will work like magic._**

 ** _Eat Lunch properly. Don't hesitate to ask for something. Call Cherry if you need anything (I asked her to obey you too) and don't wander off. The Manor is a maze and there are some parts that are cursed. I don't want you to be caught in them and it will only raise Uncle's suspicion. And try and take some rest, you looked awful yesterday. I know you have not been sleeping._**

 ** _I shall see you in the evening._**

 ** _Love,_**

 ** _Lia_**

 ** _p.s. Since this is an unplottable magical property, you can do magic despite being underage. But you should be able to do it anyway because of the emancipation. So, you can put your own security spells should you wish._**

Tom folded the letter carefully, thanked Cherry and looked around the room.

It was lighter than the rest of manor. Probably Cordelia's doing.

The window was open. He decided to change into Pajamas and try to sleep. He was uncertain about whether he will be able to sleep.

But when he lied down on the bed, he distinctly smelled Cordelia in the room. He did not know how, but before he knew, he was adrift.

* * *

 ** _I have been writing longer chapters than usual for some odd reason. But I don't mind you and I don't think you guys do it either._**

 ** _I know people are waiting for this kiss. They have to safely get through the break first and there is Christmas. It will Tom's first where he gets celebrate. I am assuming Cordelia will make it memorable with her planning. And NO, she does not plan to seduce him._**

 ** _This is the first betaed chapter. I have to thank mangoarcher1802 for taking up the task._**

 ** _I did not go into the proceedings of Gringotts because they would have made a large and rather dull description. Most of the important stuff is in this chapter. A little would be revealed in conversations between Cordelia and Tom._**

 ** _Yes, Lord Black will be an antagonist of sorts for the duration of this fic. He is not evil. He is just set in his ways._**

 ** _Hope you liked the chapter. PLEASE REVIEW._**


	29. Chapter 23: Child of Magic

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue** ** _"_**

* * *

 **Chapter 23**

 **Child of Magic**

 **Tom's POV**

The Healers gave Cordelia a clean bill though they wanted her to take it a bit easy for the next couple of days. She was banned from Quidditch or too much spell work for a bit. She was not too happy about it but she gave in.

Adelaide Black was very kind to him from the evening tea through dinner... He understood where Cordelia got her kindness and fierceness from. She had a soft demeanor like Cordelia but her feral glares at Lord Black convinced Tom that it was best not to categorize the two Black woman. They existed to be a paradox.

Ariel was timid while Cassiopeia was witty and a bit maniacal. The mad Black blood was the most prominent in her.

Pollux followed Arcturus' lead though he seemed to be torn between siding with Cordelia or Arcturus. He seemed to be fond of her.

Cordelia was nice to him and the rest of her cousins. She was loving with her mother and father, respectful to Pollux, she even cracked a couple of jokes with Cassiopeia and was polite and kind to Ariel but she had absolute frost for Arcturus.

Tom was not surprised. Cordelia could keep a grudge.

The only immediate Black member missing from the dinner was Cygnus, Cordelia's little cousin.

Apparently, he had caught the flu yesterday from staying out in snow while visiting his grandparents. He was staying with them until it got better.  
Why he was out in the snow? That nobody answered.

The dinner was a fanciful affair with a three course meal. Thankfully, Tom had taught himself all the table manners in the first year in Slytherin. Tom was lucky if he got a spoon in the orphanage.

He was sitting beside Abraxas and Cordelia.

Apparently, they had designated seats but Cordelia had not abided by it and had sat with the guests, her Uncle, Tom and Abraxas.

Arcturus had pursued her lips at that but he did not comment.

He had not got much alone time with Cordelia. He had come up to the second floor after dinner with all the Black children. Dorea had instructions to put Cordelia to bed. Arcturus had sneakily also asked Walburga to see to that. Since Adults were going to have a meeting.  
Dorea would have let Cordelia be but Walburga was unlikely to.

Tom could order her but he was not inclined to begin a house discord just like that. Though, Walburga's urgency did not stop Cordelia from hugging him Goodnight. She even kissed his cheek before she left much to Walburga's chagrin.

Now Tom was lying in the comfortable bed and he could not sleep. He had slept a lot in the day and he was antsy. He wanted Cordelia.

It was nearing midnight and there was still no sign of sleep. He huffed and tossed around.

Just then, he heard his door being opened quietly. He quickly and discreetly grabbed his wand. A figure came closer and loomed over his face.

He recognized it by scent. It was Cordelia but before he could open his eyes and say something, he heard her snort and whisper, "You are such a bad actor when you are pretending to be asleep. Move over…"

Tom gave her an ugly look.

"Oh, did I hurt your feelings?" She mocked him further.

Tom wordlessly moved back on the bed so that Cordelia could sit. She had immediately pulled his head on her lap…

"Couldn't sleep..." She asked the obvious.

Tom shrugged.

"Do you want to sleep?" Her next question surprised him.

He gave her a questioning look.

She was biting her lower lip nervously, "Well, we might not be left alone for the next couple of days, at least. And I would rather confide the blood thing in you sooner than later. But I would also like your rapt attention, so if you are sleepy, we should do it later."

Tom cast a silencing ward as he got up from her lap, and faced her.

"You are the most clueless person I have ever met. Of course, I want to know what the deal with your blood is and why it has made you so worried." Tom said. He looked slightly annoyed with her.

"I am not worried about the blood…" Cordelia said in a small voice.

Understanding dawned on Tom, he immediately poked Cordelia in her ribs with his wand.

"What was that for?" Cordelia asked, none too happy about the poke.

"You are worried about my reaction…" Tom stated simply. It irked him so much that she did not trust him enough to react in an appropriate manner, "I told you I won't judge you…"

"It is not just you Tom. This blood makes me an anomaly, an aberration. I am worried about everyone's reaction. I trust you enough to tell you about it. I trust that you will not hate me. I cannot even say that about my family from whom I get the blood. The blood gives me too much power." Cordelia shook her head in dismay.

"What do you think people are going to do?" Tom asked gently.

'What muggles did to wizards and witches. People are afraid of what they don't understand. I will be to magicals what magicals were to muggle. It will be a miracle if they don't burn me on a stake." Cordelia said almost in a crying tone.

"I will burn them before they can as much as touch you…" Tom said fiercely, gathering her in his arms.

Cordelia was nearly crying on his shoulder.

"Why did you not confide in me if this was bothering you so much?" Tom asked softly, rubbing her back.

"You were so tense about the inheritance and you were angry at me about Renatus and I did not want to pile on and bother you more…" Cordelia spoke with tears.

"Lia…" Tom admonished her, "What did I tell you that day? You would tell me if it bothered you. I understand that some of it was supposed to be secret till my inheritance but you could have told me that you were worried. I don't care what state I was in. If you needed me, regardless of the position I was in, you should have come to me. I…I" Tom hesitated there. He was on the verge of admitting that he loved her but she did not need that right now on top of her worries.

Instead, he continued softly, "I care about you, a lot. You have done so much for me, regardless of the state in which you were. You are still on a crossfire with your uncle over me. I think you have that kind of right and privilege over me when you can tell me to just shut up and listen to you, be there for you. And even if I did not owe you, you should still not hesitate to call on me when you need me. You own a part of me. I am your friend, aren't I?"

She nodded, still clinging to him, hiding her face underneath his chin.

He pressed a deep kiss on her hair, cupped her both cheeks and pulled her out. Her eyes and face were tinged red. He kissed her forehead gently, "No hiding, tell me before the night passes away. I will always be there for you." He removed his hands and grasped her palms

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV (scene continued)**

Cordelia nodded. She wiped her tears and then grasped Tom's hand in one and rested the other on her knee.

"This blood came before the Blacks that is before the family began calling itself Black. Years and years ago. I don't know what the line was called. I just know that it was powerful and well known. It gives me abilities and a lot of power…but also responsibilities. If I fail in them, I will die in despair and melancholy." She admitted.

At that, Tom grasped her hand harder.

"You won't fail, I will help you." He said immediately.

"You don't even know what the duties are…" She said weakly.

"I don't care what you have to do. Move a mountain, kill some people, and dump somebody in dung…" Tom began…

His list made her smile a little but it barely lasted a moment.

"It is more difficult than that…" She replied.

Tom did not say anything. He waited for her to say whatever she wanted to say.

"What do you think of magic?" She instead asked.

"How do you mean?" Tom asked instead.

"I know you can see it around people." She confessed, lightly biting her lower lip.

Tom looked surprised.

"I also know that you know that your magic is addictive. It pulls people in." She shrugged.

"You can see it too?" Tom asked.

"You can say that…It is rich, dark and dense….a quirky mauve." She said, nodding her head.

"I have never been able to see yours…" Tom confessed.

'Well, I actively shield it so nothing is wrong with your gift." Cordelia told him and caressed his hand soothingly.

"We can do that…"Tom asked.

She nodded, "I will teach you in this break. It will hardly take you a day. You are one of the very few people who can sense and see magic like that. We call them Osculatus Est Magicis."

"Kissed by magic…" Tom whispered back. Cordelia was not all that surprised. Trust Tom to know Latin.

"And you are what?" Tom aske. His voice was laced with honest and innocent curiosity.

"Magicae" Cordelia said slowly.

"Of magic." He promptly translated.

"There are various names for magicals like me. Magicae is just one of them.' Cordelia told.

"You are closer to magic. It comes easier to you..." Tom guessed.

"I am essentially a mudblood." Cordelia said slowly.

"Don't call yourself that…"Tom snapped.

"I did not mean it as an insult." She said patiently. He should know that she was not the discriminatory types.

"Muggleborns are called mudbloods because of the origin of their magic. It does not come from their family or parents or blood. It comes from earth and nature…literally mud. From what I know, they have this special bit in their body that enables them to interact with earth magic while they are in the womb which gives them the ability to do magic. It stops after birth. Thus, I am the biggest mudblood of all because I never stopped interacting with earth or nature even after my birth. My core is still in sync with them. The word mudblood just got convoluted over the time." She confessed.

She took his hand and they both walked out into his balcony. The night was really pretty. The sky was lit with stars and there was a crescent moon in the sky. But it was cold. She felt Tom cast a few warming charms.

Just beside the railings, there were plants. Not magical but normal decorative ones.

Cordelia placed her hand above one of them and blue shimmering light began coming out of the plant and went into her.

She stopped turned to another one and did the same thing but instead of pulling the magic into her this time, she rolled it into a ball like magic was dough…She then broke it apart and it turned into sprinkles and dissolved into the air.

"Do I look more like a freak now?" Cordelia asked softly. Tom had been quiet. He was seeing it intently.

She got smacked on her shoulder.

"Ouch…"She knew she looked shocked. Tom was not a hitter. That was totally her.

"Yep, I am a bad influence on you…"She muttered.

'Don't ever call yourself a freak again…"He said dangerously grabbing her both arms and shaking her a little roughly.

"Alright, alright, calm down." Cordelia said worriedly, looking down.

'We won't wake the adults. They are in the west wing. Aren't they?" Tom said lightly.

When Cordelia raised her eyebrow at him, he just said, "Dorea was very forthcoming…"

Cordelia nodded in understanding.

"Do it again…" He said eagerly.

Cordelia pulled out magic from another plant and was quite amused at his enthusiasm.

She made it into a ball again.

"Can I touch it?" Tom asked… She nodded.

He put one finger in the ball of magic trying to squish it but it just parted itself, giving Tom room for his finger, just like dough.

"Fascinating…so how does it work? Is magic like energy or a force or…." He was murmuring and talking to Cordelia.

"More like a combination of force or energy." Cordelia said.

She removed her hands from the ball, only keeping one finger in it and unwiring it like thread, she took it to Tom's palm, where it began twirling around his hand as a rope.

Tom smiled, looking at it.

"I can lend magic to people if they magically exhaust themselves. I can take magic from earth if I am magically exhausted…That is what I did today morning and why I am standing instead of being caged to bed. Of course, it is very limited until I get my magical maturity and more of magical channels open and my capacity increases…"

"How do you do that?" Tom asked…

Cordelia could tell he was fascinated.

"Do you mind if I send some magic in you?" Cordelia asked.

Tom shook his head.

Those tendrils of magic then separated from Tom's hand, formed into a ball again and went into Tom's heart…

Tom's eyes glowed with power for a moment.

"The breed of magicae is known by many names but the most well-known, the one most preserved in whispers of myths and legends is filii magicae.. Children of magic…" Cordelia continued her tail in a faint voice.

"They say a child of magic comes every epoch when magic is at its weakest because of external reasons. When Magicals abuse it so much that it needs a champion, somebody to restore her. Children of magic are always aided. Charisma, beauty, enigma, desire…everything about them pulls people in. They are friends of magical creatures since their arrival means equality for all. They elevate the status of every being and bring it to a fixed balance. Beasts and other less cognitively evolved magical creatures are not afraid of a child of magic. Child of magic is like a lure to them. They are pulled to him or her…You wondered why that hippogriff was so accommodating and respectful to me. Because of this…." Cordelia informed. Her tone was a monotone but she was sure that her eyes betrayed her emotions.

Tom grasped her palms and squeezed them, "Let us get inside. It is cold despite the warming charms. You have just woken up from an injury."

They both went inside- the door shut itself behind them- and settled on the bed.

"What else?" Tom asked.

"I did not just inherit abilities. I inherited memories of every child of magic since time immemorial. Not all memories but some, which are a lot, teaching me things. I told you I woke up and I knew obscure spells and potions. It has taught me a fair bit of history. That is how I knew about the mudblood bit. I see pieces of memories, vague images voices in my dreams, sometimes even when I am awake. But it does not put me in danger. The images only come when I can afford to stand still and focus on them. Some knowledge comes from extensive history lessons in this memories but some is instinctive. My hands are attuned to the movements of many forgotten spells even though I have not uttered them aloud even once. Things like that…" She paused and looked at him.

Tom nodded to tell her that he was listening and to go on.

"I can mimic the magic of almost anybody…" Cordelia said, "My magic is magic in the purest, most raw form. People take this kind of magic and personalize it. Mine is personalized but still raw. Those memories instructed me to go to Gringotts and test myself. So last summer, I sneaked away. My magic can mimic any magic, so I am like a master key for every family magic. I could have taken away the titles of everybody. Everybody. I, Of course, did not. The memories had warned me that it might happen. But I inherited a lot of bloodlines considered extinct. You would recognize one such dead line. Peveral. The Goblet said you had familial ties to them."

Tom nodded.

"Well, I am the Lady of the House of Peveral now. I inherited their gold and stuff. There are other lines. Serpens, Alder…others. I even got the titles of all Hogwarts Houses in front of me. I could have taken them for myself.' She said the last two sentences carefully.

"But I decided not to. I was not related by blood to them and I had enough gold to last me from the blood lines of all children of magic. I only took those that the other children were a part of, not any one house that I did not have a right to…" She said quickly, "But Goblins had wanted me to. To them, more open gold meant profits. They went ahead and gave me clues about the Founders' wealth. They could not reveal everything without betraying secrecy. That is how I knew that there was a substantial Slytherin legacy that you could take for your own…" She trailed off, looking at Tom carefully.

He did not look angry.

She decided to continue, " And as I said, there are duties. I am responsible for the welfare of every magical creature, supposedly. It is not very tight but in principle, I am."

Then she looked at him and said in a forlorn voice, "Magic is dying. Grindelwald's methods, his Black magic is destroying the essence of magic. Even before that, this divide between Light and Dark magic was killing magic. Grindelwald has just hastened the process and is acting like a catalyst. Magic is not just a force or energy. It is a semi-sentient being. Imagine if people are trying to separate you into two parts, parts are part of a whole that should function as a whole. People are attacking magic at its basic nature, its essence. She is dying and I don't know how to prevent the death. I do, but it is not less than the idea of a Utopia. The reconciliation between light and dark is nothing short of a fantasy…."

Cordelia felt Tom's arms come surround him, "it is not a fantasy. It is practical. Magic is nature. You cannot divide nature into evil or good. It is just there. And Dark is not evil and light is not good. Those distinctions never made sense to me. Sure, from what I have read, people can have affinities to different types of magic but it does not mean that they need to be segregated from each other… It is difficult to achieve but not completely implausible. It will take time and effort and I know that you will give both and you won't be alone…Magic was/is everything to me." Tom said seriously. He then added as an afterthought, "Apart from you." He softly said and then changed back to his passionate speech, "Both of the causes are here in tandem. We will work together, we will try."

"We have to do more than try. She will die and then we will die." Cordelia spoke in a faint voice.

"We will do that then. We won't fail. We make a good team." Tom rubbed her palms.

"And we have time, time, before she completely obliterates herself…." Cordelia's voice found a little conviction.

Tom just hugged her, "You should sleep. We can discuss this is more detail later. We have the break…"

Cordelia nodded and called out softly, "Cherry!"

"Yes, Mistress Corrie…" The elf came with flapping ears.

"I am sleeping in here. Please pop me to my room at 6 in the morning…Make sure nobody sees me" She requested softly.

The elf nodded and popped away.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

Tom woke up when he felt Cordelia being pulled from his arms. His first instinct was to tighten his arms around her but then he opened his eyes and saw Cherry's fearful eyes as she was trying to levitate Cordelia in her sleep. He remembered Cordelia's instructions from last night and nodded at her while removing his hands.

"Make sure she doesn't wake up," Tom murmured his request.

Cherry nodded gratefully and both the elf and Cordelia popped away from his room. He knew it was around 6. That is when Cordelia wanted to be moved from his room.

Tom closed his eyes again. The bed and sheets still had her light fragrance and he did not need to make much effort to go back to sleep again.

Next time, he opened his eyes was to Cordelia's chirpy voice, "Wake up Tom, it is time of breakfast..."

He also heard snippets of Abraxas' heated whisper," He does not like being woken up...He should have his privacy…"

He heard Cordelia snort, "He can have it once I leave the room after waking him up."

He felt his blanket being snatched and he couldn't help but protest," Lia!"

"Yes, Tom." He heard her patient and amused reply.

"I hate you!" He muttered sleepily.

"You will stop hating me once I tell you the time. It is nearly eight. On your feet!" Cordelia replied back, pulling his blanket further.

Tom finally opened his eyes and found her green orbs looking at him expectantly.

He finally got up drowsily and saw Cordelia's lips expand into a smile. He finally said, "This does not mean that I do not hate you." He murmured grudgingly.

He heard a cough from Abraxas. Well, he heard whatever Abraxas was hiding as a cough.

"Something the matter, Abraxas." Tom asked dangerously.

"Nothing, my lord..." Abraxas said in a faint voice. He heard Cordelia snort. He ignored it.

"I thought I asked you to call me by my given name or Riddle a while ago." Tom said with a sigh.

"Yes, my lo-Riddle." Abraxas corrected himself halfway.

Cordelia climbed on the bed, ignoring the conversation between her cousin and Tom, grabbed Tom's arms and began pulling him.

"I can get up on my own." Tom protested.

"Doesn't look like it..." Cordelia said in an amused tone.

Tom gave her a solid glare and she stuck out her tongue playfully.

"I am up," Tom said softly.

"Alright, we will wait for you at the terrace for the breakfast. I will send an elf to escort you." She said.

Taking cue from Tom's nod, Cordelia slid down from the bed and she and Abraxas left.

 **Evelyn's POV**

 **At the Station**

Evelyn had stopped herself from approaching Tom for the past three days. He looked broken and he could use an ear but Eve knew that it was not her ear that would help.

She had taken a heave of relief when she saw Renatus alive and well each morning. So, Tom had a modicum of control. But a part of her was disappointed too. She had wanted Renatus to hurt. What he did to Cordelia...Eve gritted her teeth.

She glanced towards the platform barrier. It was flocked with people. For the first time, the entirety of Hogwarts had taken the train at Christmas. She sighed.

Wilkins, her driver would have to wait. She would not reach home until late. Thankfully, she now lived in London and not Wales. It would not be that far.

She quietly joined the line for crossing the barrier. She looked ahead towards the people who were standing before her. She spotted Tom. She wondered if she should offer him a ride. The orphanage would not have sent a car for him. He would likely walk all the way. He turned around. He was not looking at her, just generally. But his expression made Eve reconsider. He needed to be alone in his company just like the past three days. He would not appreciate her formality.

But still, she wished she could do something for him. Something to soothe his pain.

She knew that it was the fate of Cordelia that would determine the extent and fate of Tom's pain. And it had been three days, there was no news.

Truthfully, the anxiety was eating away Eve too. She nervously bit her lower lip.

God! Have mercy on her...

 **Evelyn's POV**

 **Home**

It had been two days since Eve was away from magic. Well, almost. She had got off the train yesterday and today, it was nearing midnight. Evelyn's wished she could apparate. Away. Away from her new home.

The estate was not bad. It had a sprawling garden at the front, back and sides and the rooms were big. The house was warmer.

But Eve's mind was at Hogwarts. She was on edge. She was worried about Cordelia. The wait was killing her. The only way she would know anything about Cordelia was once she returned to Hogwarts. Another twenty days. She sighed.

There would be nothing in Daily Prophet and she knew the rumor mill in the Diagon Alley would be silent. The Blacks would ensure it.

She wondered if the Blacks would even let Cordelia be back at Hogwarts. She had transferred and then got nearly killed. Without even mentioning the incident with Charles Potter. Cordelia had magically exhausted herself then too.

She was sitting at the desk of her new room. She was trying to read through the Advance theory of Circle Spell Compatibility. She had barely read a paragraph in the past two hours and had understood one sentence.

It had been snowing since yesterday. No breaks. It was cold, really cold. She glanced outside the window. She could not see anything. The window was already covered in frost.

She decided to go to sleep. She had a long social day ahead tomorrow. She picked the candle stand from her desk and took it to her bedside table and placed it there.

She unlaced her Housecoat and settle in the bed. She had brought the quilt to cover herself and was about to blow her candle when two successive sounds startled her. It was not quite knocks but something similar. She looked around, wondering if this new manor had problems of mice as well. Subsequent noises made her look at the window.

She quickly got out of her bed. She could not see outside of course. She wiped the window with her hand and shivered. It was cold. Two huge eyes stared at her. An Owl.

Who was writing to her? Certainly not her friends. It was too soon for them to write. Besides the Owl was too majestic to belong to any of them. Amy (Amara) did not even have an Owl, just like her. The woes of muggleborns.

She was lost in thought when the Owl knocked again. Impatiently.

Yes, it was not a good idea to keep it waiting further. She opened the window. It made a squeaky voice. It was slightly jammed because of the cold but it did budge.

The owl flew in and immediately went to the top of the fireplace. The warmest place in the room. It sure was a pampered owl.

It was carrying an envelope.

Expensive stationary. The only rich elite magical who talked to her was Cordelia. Sure, there were other purebloods that were nice to her or were her acquaintances, but no one had any need of writing to her.

But Cordelia would not be writing to her of all the people, even if she had finally woken up.

Eve decided to finally open the envelope without mulling too much. She would mull on the message instead.

There was no seal on the envelope, which was unusual. She carefully opened the envelope. Inside was a single, small parchment folded into two parts.

She pulled it out and opened it. It had a total of seven words in neat calligraphy.

" ** _She is up and safe_**." In the center and

 ** _Abraxas Malfoy"_** in the left side corner at the bottom.

That was it.

'She'! Surely that meant Cordelia. Eve felt extremely relieved off a sudden.

This was good, really good. Thank God… Eve sat with a relieved heap on the end of her bed. She was still clutching the letter in her hand.

But that did not explain why Abraxas Malfoy wrote to her. They had never spoken. She was not even sure that he knew about her existence until this letter.

But she would worry about that later. She had an owl in her room who looked extremely comfortable here. It did not look like that it wanted to leave.

"You can stay the night but you need to leave in the morning." She told the owl with a sigh to which the owl hooted in response.

Eve winced. How was she going to explain an owl hoot in the middle of London? She had to come up with something.

 **Tom's POV**

Since Cordelia had been in her night robes, Tom had not bothered with changing his attire. He had just put on his night robes over his pajamas. They were really warm and classy. He looked at himself in the mirror. It would do.

An elf came, just as Cordelia had said it would. It was not Cherry. His name was Dribble.

The terrace was on the opposite end of second floor in an L shape.

When Tom entered the terrace, he was slightly surprised to only see the children.

"The adults are eating in the formal dining room," Orion informed him.

"More like stuffy dining room." He heard Cordelia mutter.

He saw Alphard and Abraxas hide their grins.

"Cordelia insisted that we all eat here," Dorea informed him, ignoring Cordelia.

"Yes, come on Tom, join in. It is Eggs Benedict, Baked Beans and Hash brown with Blueberry pancakes." Cordelia informed him.

It was an informal arrangement. Tom went and sat in-between Abraxas and Cordelia. As if he had a choice, Cordelia had been patting the seat. Not that Tom minded.

Breakfast was a merry affair. How could it not be? Cordelia was up to her usual tricks of spreading happiness and teasing everyone including him.

Tom lost count of the times he laughed. In fact, his cheeks were starting to hurt from smiling too much.

His eyes met Cordelia's dancing orbs and he melted seeing the happiness in them.

She looked lighter after sharing about filii magicae with him.

He loved her like this. Carefree and happy.

Gosh, he just loved her.

He promised that he would tell her soon.

* * *

 **I apologize in advance but I have hit the most humongous writer's block ever. The next chapter is still not written and at the rate I am going, I am not sure if I will be able to finish it by next time. Writing politics is not my forte, I guess.**

 **So, there is a small chance that the next update might be later than next Saturday or that it will be comparatively shorter than my usual chapters. Anyhow, don't curse me. This is the first time I am actually missing an update and I am informing so, take it easy, I guess.**

 **PLEASE READ AND REVIEW.  
**

 **I really like writing Eve. There is a blend of her naivety and observation skills which is fun to write. Her POV might become more regular after the break.**


	30. Chapter 24: The Dawn of Walpurgis

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue** ** _"_**

* * *

 **Chapter 24**

 **Dawn of Walpurgis**

 **Cordelia's POV**

She had just finished her bath and other rituals. She was currently standing right outside her Uncle Arcturus' study. She and Tom had managed to talk right after breakfast. Both of them had agreed that appeasing her Uncle's ego was a necessity. Otherwise, he would prove to be a problem. She would need to keep her temper in check and well, also her fierce need to defend and protect Tom from her Uncle's probable mindless verbiage against him, which she was sure would come. If not today, then soon.

Cordelia morphed her set jaw to a more demure expression. She was not sure if she succeeded. But deciding that it must be better than nothing, she pulled the heavy snake shaped knocker and let it hit the Mahogany wood with a sharp clang.

"Enter," came her Uncle's austere reply.

She opened the heavy door a little. Strength was not Cordelia's strong suit, it was agility. But she was slim enough to enter through the small opening her arms has wedged between the door and the frame.

Arcturus was sitting and writing away with a quill. He did not look up. He did not need to. Family Magic would have already alerted him that it was her.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Cordelia?" He asked, looking up.

He did not look happy.

"I figured that my actions claim a more detailed explanation." She replied back. She did not smile but her stance was docile.

"And what would that explanation be?" Her uncle asked severely.

"One of the reasons why I wanted to come to Hogwarts was the illustrious history of Slytherins as parselmouths. I had hoped to find some clue to the gift the Naga gave me. Imagine my surprise when I entered the House of Slytherin and found that there was another parselmouth there. Quite probably the Heir of house Slytherin. I was furious with my cousins. They had known the fact or nearly 3 years and they had not spoken a word about it, not even a slightest hint. I knew that it was an oath. He had invoked Heir privilege. Meaning as soon as I was sorted to Slytherin, I was bound by an oath to keep his Heir status a secret." Cordelia told her Uncle. Of course, it was bullshit but her cousins would neither confirm nor deny her story. They were not allowed to speak about Tom to her Uncle.

"Since I did not know the specific wordings of the oath, I did not try to subvert. I am glad that I had the forethought because as you probably noticed, Tom is very specific about his oaths. He did not like me much even though I had not revealed my parselmouth status. I was too independent to bow. All the Blacks in the school are oath bound to him. Even I do not know the exact nature of his bond. But it did surprise me that none of them could find a way beyond their oath to warn us about him. Tom is formidable. Brilliant, as powerful as me if not more and has ancient blood. He is a force to reckon with now. I wondered what would the end be when he turns 17 and takes over the seats and political power of Slytherin. I spent much of the beginning of the year trying to come up with a way to warn the family. The only suitable way was if Tom let me tell you. So, I gained his trust. As he gained mine."

"As for the explanation, I am just going to say that it took me mere four months to tell you about Tom. At least I found a way to inform you, even if you disapprove of it. The oath prevents you from disclosing about him to anyone. It does not prevent you from using the knowledge in other ways." Cordelia gave him a pointed look.

"He has your trust?" Her uncle spoke with great difficulty. He was angry.

"He does. We became friends." Cordelia said simply.

"And what have you told your 'friend' about the House of Black?" Her uncle mocked.

"House of Black is my concern, not Tom's. He does not know anything he was not required to know." Cordelia knew that her tone was a little sharper now.

"And what did he require to know?" Her uncle asked her again.

"You should not have appointed me Heiress if you did not trust my abilities or discretion, Uncle. You have your allies, I have mine. I am not going to depend on your legacy alone. No, that would make me a very poor Heiress. I am going to build and add more to the legacy. I would just say that Black family magic approved." Cordelia replied sharply.

"As for Tom, well, he does not put his nose in the business that has nothing to do with him." She gave him a challenging look, "And I do not see how his lordship is yours? I was not harmed by him and he is no threat to us since he considers me and by extension House of Black a friend."

"Are you questioning me Cordelia?" Her Uncle asked dangerously.

"Yes, I believe I am. What is a Lord if the Heiress cannot even pose him a simple question? But today I am just taking cues from you. What has he done to you? Rather, what have I done to you? I know I have done nothing to warrant such hostility. " Cordelia asked simply.

The appeasement was not going as planned but licking anybody's boots was not Cordelia's style. If she did not let Tom get away with acting high and mighty with her, she would not let anybody get away.

Her uncle just glared.

"Very well. I will avoid your presence until you can give a legitimate reply. You can contact me through father and mother should you need anything." Cordelia said easily and stepped outside without giving him a chance to speak.

She did not actually understand why he was so pissed. Maybe, he thought that Tom was manipulating her. But really, he knew her better than that. Or maybe, he thought of Tom as a manipulator because he himself attempted to manipulate Cordelia.

One thing Cordelia knew for sure, he was afraid of her autonomy.

Too bad, he will learn to live with it.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

"Apparently, there is no other room more suitable than this one in the entirety of this large manor." Tom complained to her in a whisper as she joined him and her cousins in the Lounge.

She understood Tom's contention. The room had too many portraits and all of them would report back to her uncle.

"Zigby, Willy, Cherry." She softly called out.

"Yes Mistress Corrie. " They all popped and said in sync.

"I want the large dungeon and the adjoining sitting room completely cleared. We will down in 10 minutes. See that it is done?" She commanded though her last bit was a question for the time negotiation.

"Yes, Mistress Corrie." They popped away.

"Dungeons…" Walburga pinched her nose.

"The elves clean it weakly Burga. It is not dirty. And I am having them cleared all the same. We can put the furniture I have in store from Beauxabatons. It should provide a cozy setting for what we want to achieve." Cordelia said with an amused smile.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

When they entered the dungeons, it reminded Tom of the Hogwarts dungeons. Torches were lit on the either side for light and made the old stone glint.

Of course, Black manor was not as old as or as large as Hogwarts.

"What did you clear out the large hall for?" Dorea murmured, 'that is no room for a meeting."

"Dueling…I thought we might sneak in a few sessions over the break. We will use the other room for our meeting." Cordelia replied back and threw open the doors of the said room ajar.

It reminded Tom eerily of Cordelia's trunk because the furniture was of similar state. It was a large rectangular room, not too big but about one-third the size of the Slytherin common room.

There was a fireplace in the center which divided the room into equal halves. One-half had couches and armchairs in a neat oval whereas the other half had a giant table with straight-backed chairs. The room also had Ventilators at the top. They were closed right now unsurprisingly. There were huge layers of snow outside. The room would flood.

"It will do…" Cordelia muttered, "Won't it?

"Do…" Abraxas looked at her incredulously.

"Why? I thought it looks quite nice…" Cordelia got defensive.

"It is more than nice Cordelia…" Dorea intervened.

"Yes, it is." Abraxas concurred, "You have inherited Aunt Adelaide's eye for aesthetic."

"Why! Thank you…" Cordelia gave a small curtsy in amusement.

"Shall we get on? Some of us have work…"Walburga insisted.

"Yes, I have to write to Ignatius…" Lucretia intoned.

"You don't look pleased about that…" Alphard shot at Lucretia.

"Alphard…" Dorea admonished.

"Alright, quiet. We can argue about the trivial once we are out of here. I agree with Burga, let us begin. Sit…"Cordelia gave a sharp reprimand.

"Yes, it will be optimal to start right away. We have a lot to do..." Tom murmured lazily as he shared a look with Cordelia.

"I should not have to say that we discuss will not leave the room," Cordelia said seriously.

Tom's eyes were analyzing the structure he and Cordelia had come up with. It was not exhaustive but it was a start.

He and Cordelia went to the big table. He turned around a chair and sat on it. He smiled a little as he saw Cordelia plop herself on the table.

She loved her tables.

"What is it about?" Abraxas asked once all of them had settled.

"We needed opinions. It is pretty much set but I wanted an estimate of the plausibility of our plan." Cordelia said. Tom shared a look with her as he said without preamble, "We are disbanding the Slytherin Court."

There was a silence.

"Why?" It was Abraxas who articulated the confusion, "Are we no longer trying to change the structure…"

"We are, if anything, I and Tom's plans have expanded," Cordelia said.

"Then what?" Dorea asked.

"The plans have also changed a bit after my numerous conversations with Cordelia. They have also changed in the light of my inheritance. I had not anticipated that I would have it so soon. The old court or its premise was not in concordance with new ideation. We needed something 'fresh' for the execution of this. We are still going to recruit and ideate and change for the acceptance of the dark arts but it is a one of the goals now instead of the larger purpose." Tom said in his silk voice, speaking languidly.

"And…" It was Alphard who asked impatiently

"Cordelia is quite insistent on a Hogwarts Court." Tom at last spoke.

"And while I was at it, we thought why curtail it to just Hogwarts, so we will accept and recruit anybody who sympathetic to our cause and is more or less below 25 years of age." Cordelia told.

"A Hogwarts Court…" Abraxas spoke with wonder.

"Well, we want to change the magical world and not just the Slytherins and other houses form the citizens of British Magical World. Don't they?" Cordelia said simply.

"They do….but their acceptance of it depends entirely on our goals.' Dorea pointed out.

"I don't see Gryffindors supporting the cause of the dark." Walburga sneered.

"Well, thankfully, it is not just about the dark and the Gryffindors are not so bigoted that they fail to see the necessity of dark in the larger scheme of things." Cordelia pointed out.

"Our main goal is equality…" Tom continued.

"For everyone. Dark, Light should not be divisive." Cordelia completed.

"We can discuss that when we actually expand but for right now, we are going to work to make Hogwarts a better and inclusive place," Tom said.

"You mean to let muggleborns in the court," Walburga said. It was not a question but a statement laced in derision.

"We do," Cordelia said and both she and Tom nodded.

"The system is unfair, Walburga. They come into a strange world, they are treated as strangers, and for their sanity they cling to the familiar instead of adapting to the wizarding alien." It was Dorea who spoke.

"We will be taking steps to ensure that wizarding culture is not alien to them. There was a wizarding culture class. I confirmed with father and in the school records. We will be advocating to restart it. But in the meanwhile, we were thinking to form an informal club where we can educate them about it. But yes, we cannot have clueless simpletons partaking in court. They will have one or two courtiers as their representatives. The majority of the court will come from the old Houses since they can simulate wizangomot and can actually influence things. The Court is not going to be in name." Cordelia informed.

"And the court is not going to be the only segment of the Knights. We have decided to branch out. There will be two forms of administrative divisions. One is Courtier and non-courtier and the other is more detailed. Both Courtiers and non-courtiers will be Knights and will serve in different capacities to embolden and execute our cause and plans respectively." Tom gave the details.

"Halfbloods and Muggleborns will be a bigger part of the non-courtiers. With time, when they learn, they can be pulled into the court. So will be the case of women. There are more women in court than there are muggleborns but the number is less than men. That will be remedied over time. " Cordelia said and gave them an expectant look.

She was asking for their questions.

Tom glanced at all her cousins. Orion and Lucretia looked amenable. Alphard devotional. Abraxas looked thoughtful whereas Dorea looked proud. None of them truly surprised him.

He saved the last glance for the most problematic element of the Blacks. Walburga's jaw was set. There was conflict in her eyes. Good, she was not out rightly dismissing their vision. There was hope. Her reaction was the one that they would get from most Slytherins and a few others.

'Speak your mind Burga. We will not lambaste you. You hold the view that majority do and even if we disagree with it, we will respect it. I might poke holes in it though. " Cordelia said slowly, sipping water from a goblet that her elf had appeared with.

Cherry was another anomaly. She seemed to know what Cordelia needed instinctively. She also seemed to know what he needed but Tom was sure that was Cordelia's doing and not an elfin venture.

"Is it not fair? To have them? To teach them? They are a part of our world too. We are hoping that the tutoring in old ways would bridge the gap, make them more respectful of our traditions. Does that not remedy our major contention with them?" Cordelia softly asked.

Her voice was always so silky, smooth. It made something rise in him. She could be so soft spoken but so assertive. And so very sharp when the need arose.

The other cousins were watching with bated breath. Tom found himself relaxing. He was not bothered about Walburga's hesitation.

For some reason, he was oddly feeling very accomplished. Walburga's nasal expressions would not deter him from his jovial mood.

"They dilute our blood. Pollute it." Walburga spat.

"What is the color of their blood sister?" Cordelia asked in her soft tenor.

Walburga did not answer.

Cordelia produced a knife from under the skirts of her layered gown and streaked it across her palm. Crimson shone against her golden pale skin.

That irritated Tom. She did not have to make herself bleed.

"Crimson, like mine or yours," Cordelia said softly again.

It seemed like today Walburga could not anger her. But she had already angered Tom. He grabbed Cordelia's palm and healed it wordlessly. Cordelia did not even look at him.

Her green emeralds were fixed at her cousin.

"It is nice to know that you think my blood is polluted. Diluted even." Tom could not resist himself. He had put Walburga in a tight spot. Cordelia had promised to go easy on her. He had not. He thought that the 'we' Cordelia spoke was loosely defined.

He gave a cheeky stare to Cordelia at her mildly admonishing look and he swore that he saw a ghost of smile make way to her lips before he fixed Walburga with a look.

Tom took Cordelia's goblet of water and took a sip himself.

"I didn't…" Walburga began and stopped.

'Would you have me bleed to see?" Tom quirked his eyebrow.

He felt a sharp sting on his lower back. Cordelia had long nails indeed and her pinch had been anything but harmless. He was sure that it would bruise.

But she did not speak in her cousin's defense. He was sure he would listen to some harsh words when they were alone but she would not fight him in front her cousins. Not over something this trivial.

"I heard from Charlie that all the inbreeding had turned most of royal lines in Europe sickly." It was Dorea who came to her cousin's rescue by breaking the dooming silence. She killed the silence but she spoke in his favor.

"Inbreeding is what they call when close relations marry each other. Their blood becomes so…they don't have a word for it… it renders them weak and sickly. Most magical world is inbred. A latest study by Department of mysteries says that if we keep going at this rate, there will no pureblood wizards left. All will be squibs." Cordelia added her bit, looking at Walburga.

"I understand the need people feel to keep the bloodlines pure. But the notion of purity is spurious Burga. Once upon a time, our oldest ancestor was a muggleborn. We did not just pop out of nowhere." She said after a couple of minutes lapsed in silence.

"Toujours pur." Walburga glared at Cordelia.

"Yes, our family motto says 'Always Pure'. But does it refer to blood? There are many kinds of purity. Of heart. Of Honor. Of love. Of Kindness." Cordelia fought back.

"Of course, it is about blood." Walburga's eyes reflected her insanity then.

"I could show you all the family grimoires if you cared. They don't mention blood at all. Or I could call the totem and ask it about it. If you do not trust my translation, I am sure Lord Slytherin will acquiesce. " Cordelia offered.

Of course, Walburga could not say anything about him. It was one thing to question the honor of her cousin in a family setting, another to question his.

And it looked like that Cordelia had abandoned her plans to go easy on her. There was a sharp edge in her eyes now.

"It does not matter. You are still going to do what you have set your mind to." Walburga said hastily.

"It matters. What you think matters? You are a part of the family. You will be a part of the Knights. It matters." Cordelia said firmly.

"I know it is a lot to take in. I know I cannot change your opinion with a few words. I need you to promise me that you will give them a chance and not be openly hostile or prove detrimental to our work. If interacting with them does not change it for you, then we will talk again and you can rationally argue your side. I will not force you to spend time with people you don't want to after you have done your bit." Cordelia gave Walburga her final decision.

"I think that is more than fair." It was Orion who spoke.

"Are you planning to do this with any pureblood who disagrees?" Abraxas asked, his voice filled with slight doubt.

"No. Not everyone gets the privilege my cousins do." Cordelia said firmly.

"We have a plan of action to deal with it. Since most of Slytherins derive their ideology from the tales about the origin of our house. I and Cordelia are fairly confident that the legacy we pretend to be ours is a farce. We have been able to trace the changing views of blood in the Slytherin lines close to 500 years and it has more difference of opinion than advocacy about the blood purity. We are fairly sure that a visit to the main vault will corroborate our theory for the rest of years as well. If we raise questions on the very foundation of the notion of blood purity, I am sure opinions can be changed." Tom answered that.

"That is a sound plan…"Dorea muttered thoughtfully.

"We have given this a great deal of thought in the past months." Tom accepted her praise.

'So, the political structure has two divisions. Courtiers will be called Metieta and non-courtiers will be Dem."

"The Wise counselors." It was Dorea who gave them a surprised look.

Tom and Cordelia nodded.

"It is an allusion to a phrase in Homeric poems," Cordelia informed the rest.

"Dem means people in latin," Abraxas said swiftly.

"We thought we would keep it simple." Cordelia shrugged.

"I like it." Abraxas nodded.

'Abraxas, Dorea and Orion will be a part of the Metieta from all of you." It was Cordelia who said that. She and Tom were gauging the reactions.

"Why not the others?" It was Dorea who asked.

"People are a bit wary of the House of Black. I think it will be unwise and unfair to other houses if the Court is dominated by my family. Anyway, Lucretia and Alphard are not that accomplished in politics. It bores Alphard and makes Lucretia anxious. They have other forte. They will work with Knights in different capacities. As for Walburga, I have a task for her that will work against the sanctity of the court. I would not give her two conflicting roles." Cordelia said, "I will tell the roles once we discuss the second structure."

"The second structure is less exhaustive. It functions a bit like a Ministry as it has different departments. We have a tentative list and names but we can always add more if needs arise." Tom said, "We have five of them right now."

"One for our best duelers: Mars. We need people trained if Grindelwald looks towards Hogwarts. The dementors will not be the last attack. He hates Dumbledore. We need to be an army if we are to defend and protect ourselves. The second is Inquest which has two sections: Phoebus for Research and Thesis for Development. We are going to research arcane magics and bring them back to curriculum hopefully. The third is Delphi, for spies and intelligence. We need to know the inner goings of Ministry and Professors and Board of Governors and other news. Lucretia, you are one and so is Walburga."

"Me…" Lucretia looked at them in surprise.

She was really too quiet. This was the second sentence of the entire evening.

"People think you harmless. They will let their guard down around you. You can listen in on conversations and report." Cordelia informed with a small smile.

"That could work…" Lucretia said in wonder. As if she could not believe that she could contribute.

"I think we all agree that no one considers me harmless. So what is your plan for me?" Walburga asked wryly.

That send the entire room into laughter. Walburga was everything but harmless.

"You will have a different role. You see the worst in people before anyone does. You love critiquing. Your job is to build detailed profiles of all the Knights. What makes them tick? What is their weakness? Inclinations. We will start with the court and we can go from there. We will slowly move to Wizangomot and Ministry. Also, you and Lucretia are both good looking. Men like to impress you by telling you what they know. You will report that if you are comfortable." Cordelia informed with a smile.

"I don't mind. Boys who make such statements are dumb." Lucretia said with a smile. She was examining her nails for some odd reason.

'That surprisingly suits me." Walburga too agreed.

'Well, Cordelia knows all of your strengths." Tom said, giving her most of the credit.

Cordelia rolled her eyes.

"We have one we call Hermes. They are a sub-department under Metieta for diplomats or hagglers. They will be proposing our deals and bringing other deals to us." Tom informed.

"And the last is Asclepius. We can call the people Plius. That will be the faction of healers. I will be personally leading that. It is both for research and practice. But since healing requires specialization, I thought it was best to separate it from Inquest." Cordelia said.

"I like the organization. Departments. Are we preparing for future?" It was Abraxas who asked.

"I am very sure that the Knights will be joining Ministry, assuming political roles, gaining subject masteries and we are hoping that the Knighthood surpasses the years in school to a lifelong kinship. A network where we help each other out." Cordelia gave a nod.

"There is a precedent in Hogwarts charter about Hogwarts court. It has previously served as a mediator between the school and students. The process is fairly simple. You need to meet the requirements set down by the Founders. When you are sure, you meet them, you rally people to choose their representatives from each house. Those reps come together and meet the potential King or the Queen. They pass on the regards and our policies to their houses. Once, set in motion, the formation cannot be dissolved until a better candidate comes forth for the head of the court or somebody is able to produce strong contention point against the original candidate. Of course, some of the rules are waived off if you are an Heir or Heiress of the founders. But we will be going by the normal procedure since we won't have a 'King or Queen'. I and Cordelia will be running it together and we are thinking of calling ourselves the ruling Council." Tom informed.

'Do we have a name?" It was Alphard who asked, "I mean we are not traditional knights. Not all of us will be warriors."

"We do," Cordelia grinned.

Tom shared a look with Cordelia, interlaced her fingers with hers and looked straight ahead, "We will all be Knights of Walpurgis."

* * *

 **I swear this chapter was the most difficult one yet. I just could not type it. I have literally written it one dialogue at a time. But it was kind of important for the future term since there will be more powerplay and more characters from other houses coming in with their I think,, despite the hard time I faced, it has turned out decent.  
**

 **I thank annabelsmith for a really tip that got me going and got me to finish this.**

 **And yes, the chapter title is inspired from batman vs. Superman: Dawn of justice. Couldn't resist.**

 **I stuck with names of Greek Gods and Goddesses for the councils and some Latin translation. I have been using google translate quite liberally. What can I say? I need to learn Latin.**

 **Next Chapter is Christmas. We get some sweet surprises.**

 **The kiss is coming soon. Don't worry. I know how it is going to happen. I just have to write it.**

 **Cheers.**

 **Please Review.**


	31. Chapter 25: Happy Yule

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue** ** _"_**

* * *

 **Chapter 25**

 **Happy Yule**

 **Tom's POV:**

Cordelia and he had spent the morning in Diagon Alley along with Abraxas and Orion. And though Orion and he had returned an hour ago, Cordelia and Abraxas were still to be seen.

They had all gone for last minute Christmas shopping. In Tom's case, the only Christmas shopping he ever did. But thankfully, he had good taste and Cordelia had advised him before they had left in the morning.

He was anxiously waiting for her to come back.

Tom had been expecting her to be a little tired but otherwise to be in a decent mood. What he was not expecting her to be was in raving mad delirium where she was muttering curses under her breath.

He glanced towards Abraxas for some hint of what had caused it as the three of them stood in his chambers.

Abraxas shrugged.

"Abraxas, leave us." Cordelia commanded in the next second.

"As you say, my lady." Abraxas did a mock bow, hoping perhaps to amuse her and left through the door.

She did not even glance at him and shut the door as he left her.

"What is wrong?" Tom asked.

"I…" She began but stopped.

"Lia…" Tom asked persuasively.

She did not say anything but she pulled out a thick gold chain of sorts from her satchel, pulled his hand forward and placed it in his arm.

"This rightfully belongs to you." She muttered.

It was the Slytherin locket. Tom had read descriptions in the Gaunt books and even seen one sketch.

"Did you meet a Gaunt?" Tom immediately asked.

Cordelia shook her head faintly.

Tom decided to give her some time.

"I was in Borgin and Burke's." She said.

"The Dark arts shop in Diagon Alley." Tom asked to confirm.

Cordelia nodded gingerly.

Tom was not judging her. Her family was dark. He was dark.

"Were you hoping to find something in particular?" Tom pressed.

"I had hoped to find a parseltongue text actually. Father's resources place it in his shop." Cordelia admitted.

"He did not have it. It was stolen, he said." Cordelia continued.

"And…"

"I saw this. Spotted this. He offered to sell it for a very large price." Cordelia asked.

"How much do I owe you?" Tom immediately asked.

"I did not pay him." Cordelia whispered.

"You stole it…" Tom asked, a little alarmed now.

"No, I was willing to buy it, for whatever price he offered. The Locket is priceless." She emphasized the last word.

"But I asked him how he got it? I was curious. I don't see any of the Gaunts selling it. They were too proud of their legacy." Cordelia said looking at him earnestly.

"Something about his eyes seemed off then." She shook his head, "He was evasive, that I got. But his eyes."

"I tested his mental shields…" She said next, "He had some, but they were not too difficult for me to…" She trailed off.

"You used Leglimency on him. " Tom confirmed.

She swallowed and nodded. Something was bothering her very much. That he could see.

"Did he realize…" Tom asked but what Cordelia said next shook him.

"I think I saw your Mum…" She whispered.

Tom froze

"I think I saw your Mum in his memories. It was a 15 year old memory. And there was a heavily pregnant lady who sold him the locket." She said, her voice had pain.

Tom was still frozen.

"He cheated her. He… used her. He bought the locket off her for ten galleons.." She spat.

"I got so angry…so angry that he would do that to a needy woman. I erased his memories of getting the locket and his encounter with me, picked the locket, stole it and came back home…"

Tom was a bit shaken but he did not like Cordelia shaken.

He crossed the rooms, clutching the locket in his palm, he wrapped himself around her.

She relaxed a little in his arms.

'Did I ever tell you how I came to be in the orphanage?" Tom whispered gently.

He felt her shake her head against his chest.

"My mother came to the orphanage in her labor and birthed me and died there during childbirth. She lived long enough to name me, Tom, after my father and Marvolo, after her father." He said with detachment.

"I am sorry. So sorry." She whispered against his chest.

Tom could feel her tears wetting his shirt.

Tom cupped her cheeks and kissed her forehead, "It was not your fault."

"It was not yours either." She said vehemently.

"I never said it was…" Tom lied. He was sure that she did not believe him but at least she did not press it further.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

It was later in the day when Tom and Cordelia were writing notes to their Slytherin courtiers that there was an interruption. Cygnus had returned from his grandparents' house and he had been very excited to see Cordelia. He had also been worried asking constantly if he needed to beat somebody. He reminded Tom a little of Alphard.

But he did not stay. His mother was demanding his attention. Cordelia later told him that Aunt Cassy probably wanted dirt on her in-laws/uncle and aunt. She liked to have dirt on everybody even family.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

It was Christmas Eve already. Tom had settled into the manor. Arcturus had given the children great breadth, away from him.

Most of the adults had given them space actually. Everyone was so busy in the days before Christmas. There was work to be done, handwritten personal Christmas greetings and gifts to be send, letters to write.

She and Tom had spent the better part of the morning writing notes to everyone in Slytherin. Common between the two, they were sending a Chocolate Frog to every member and a bar of chocolate from the Swiss Chocolatier that Cordelia loved to every Court member.

The dissolution of the court will not happen until the break but until then, Tom and she were responsible for them.

Tom's presents had arrived late in evening. Thankfully, Cordelia had been in her room and was able to secure them before Tom even got a hint of them.

Now, she was working with her aunt Ariel and mother to arrange the formal dining room for the Christmas' Eve Dinner that they were going to take in a few minutes.

Walburga, Lucretia and Dorea were also bustling.

Her uncles and Father arrived early. Aunt Cassiopeia arrived soon with Cygnus trailing behind her.

An elf was sent to call all the boys as they all settled down to begin.

There was a soft murmur of talking in the room. Cordelia was entertaining Cygnus and Dorea. Lucretia was discussing her possible summer wedding with her mother. Ariel and Adelaide were whispering. Her Father was conversing with Uncle Rion. Arcturus was sullen and silent. Pollux was lightly talking to Walburga.

There was a really loud hissing noise which made the whole table go silent.

Everyone looked towards the fireplace as the sound had originated from there.

Cordelia froze, murmured a soft polite curse and quickly got up as she approached the fireplace.

"Jormy, I told you not to come out of the room." She reprimanded something or someone as she bent down.

Her family watched with bated breath as a large snake started climbing up on her left arm.

"Is that a snake?" Dorea asked softly.

Cordelia nodded as she turned around. It was a pretty snake, really pretty with a Black body and faint copper and bronze specks distributed over the body.

"Is that an Apophis?" Her father had got up and come to her.

"Yes, but she is tamed. Bred by the finest snake breeder in Egypt. She won't hurt anyone." Cordelia said softly.

Then she hissed in parseltongue to the snake, scolding lightly from her tone. Everyone heard the mention of Tom. The snake hissed back.

"She was cold in the room and this place is warm. I will go and drop her in my room and get Cherry to have a fire going." She informed here.

'She can just stay here." Arcturus offered.

'She can't. She is Tom's present." Cordelia said, "And she is a surprise."

Now her entire family was in for a shock. She did not blame them. Apophis were very rare. That also meant they were very expensive. To think, she was gifting Tom with something this extravagant was a bit of a surprise.

"I better go before he comes. I am taking the back stairs. Cook an excuse for me to tell the boys." She instructed Dorea as she disillusioned the snake and disappeared from the room.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

Christmas morning came ripe and early for Tom. No, Yule morning. He corrected himself in head as he shuffled his body to better wrap himself around Cordelia. One glance at the mirror in front of the bed gave him a glimpse of the view outside the window. It was snowing again.

A white yule, just like the girl in his arms had wanted.

He kissed her forehead and nose. She opened her sleepy eyes.

"It is snowing again." She murmured happily as her eyes took in the view behind him without even commenting about the kisses. She was used to it.

Tom moved away from her to turn around and take a better look at the snow. Yes, it was a really heavy fall.

"But it is cold." She shivered and came closer to him. Tom wrapped his arms snugly around her.

"Well, snow means cold." He chuckled.

"Does it have to?" She cried unhappily and sleepily. Tom did not say anything, just held her closer underneath the layers of blankets.

They both fell asleep again soon.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

When he and Cordelia arrived in the family room with the burning Yule log and the Christmas tree (Pureblood families celebrated a combination of the two), there was no one there.

But Tom was very shocked to see the piles and piles of presents underneath the tree arranged in neat pyramids.

"The elves would have taken all of our posts, just like they do at Hogwarts." Cordelia informed and he and she settled down on the couch. Thankfully, a fire was blazing in the center of the room as well in the fireplace so there was considerable warmth around.

This was the first time Tom was seeing so many presents. Hogwarts was exquisite at Christmas but he was the only Slytherin who had remained behind in these past three years. He had not seen anyone receive presents and he never did receive any so.

The only present he had got was from the burning firecrackers. And even they had left a bitter taste. A reminder that he never got 'real' gifts.

"I should have known you would be up…"Abraxas muttered as he entered the room. Alphard was trailing behind him.

Cordelia had mentioned that Abraxas had spent quite a lot of time in Black manor as a child. Whenever she was visiting and they were not at Malfoy Manor, they were here. Thus, he knew his way around the place.

And they have to wait but for ten minutes and all the Black cousins are down. Even Cygnus. He came to Cordelia for a hug and receives one along with a kiss on his cheek and forehead.

She had been honest with him. She did treat him like her own baby.

"We let him open his first and then all of us just pounce." Cordelia whispered to him. She had probably noted him observing Cygnus.

And he knew no adults will be joining them. It was a family ritual for the children.

She had said that her parents liked to open presents with them but his Uncle never did. Due to political nature of his gifts, he could never open them with his family. And Cordelia felt that he felt left out, so he forbid all the adults.

She was not pleased about it but she seemed to accept it.

For once, Tom was grateful to Arcturus. He should not have been because the absence of adults made Cordelia sad, but he was grateful.

His courtiers were still more familiar to his state of previous destituteness than the adults and he would like to keep it that way.

Cygnus found Cordelia's present for him in the entire pile.

Tom was not that surprised. Her little cousin worshipped her.

He picked the decent the thin long box and tried to shake it even though it was a bit bigger for his arms. No noise came.

"C'mon guess…"Dorea beamed at him.

"A sword..." He muttered.

All his cousins laughed and Tom could not hide his chuckle either.

He unwrapped it swiftly, impatient despite the request for more guesses.

It was a broom. A training broom to be specific as he remembered Cordelia telling him while they were in school and she was going through catalogues for presents. " _He is never let outside. The poor thing is a prisoner in that London Manor. The manor is small, no place where he can actually play. Uncle Arcturus does not appreciate visitors that often so he can't come to this manor. But there is a small courtyard in the center of the London Manor. He can play there. This broom does not fly higher than twelve feet, so he would be quite safe_." He remembered her soothing voice telling him.

"A broom…" There is a plethora of emotions in the boys' voice as he looks at the gift. His lips are trembling and something told Tom that he was about to cry. And he does. He flung his arms across Cordelia's shoulders and hugged her as his life depends on it.

Alphard was about to make a crass comment but the collective stares of Lucretia, Cordelia and Dorea silenced him.

"You can train for the team now Gus…" Orion says with a smile. He had a little more tact than his younger brother. Not that it was a surprise. Alphard was a buffoon. Tom had concluded that a long time ago.

But a part of this was making him feel bad. He didn't… He did not like the way the boy was wrapped around Cordelia. Her arms were for him, for Tom and to see them wrapped around her little cousin in equal comfort and love, was a bit too much for Tom.  
So was the thoughtfulness of the gift.

He had wondered what he would like as a Christmas present. He could not think of anything, anything that would make his heart move or…anything similar. He believed in practicality. He could think of practical gifts like Wand holsters and sweets but nothing quite sentimental.

He wondered what he would get. He was honestly curious. Maybe a book. Books were practical. Cordelia knew how much he loved reading.

He was lost in his thoughts and he saw it all. Cygnus separating from Cordelia and moving on to his other presents. The other cousins bustling and grabbing their own presents. But it did not really register.

This envy was killing him.

The first thing he registered was Cordelia's groan and her slapping her head. He was facing sideways looking at her.

He gave her a curious look. She did not look up. He wondered what caused her to groan like that.

He did not have to wait for long because he heard hisses from front.

Tom looked in front and froze. There was about a one and half meter snake poised in front of him. Even though it had no hood, it had raised itself to his chest level and was looking at him intently. Tom froze and reached for his wand.

And then he heard the snake talk, " **Is this him? Is this my new master?"** Tom could swear that the snake was smiling in delight.

He looked at Cordelia, who looked sheepish as she looked at him and saw her nod at the snake.

"Merry Christmas Tom…"She muttered with the same sheepish expression.

The snake was an excitable one. It immediately began to try and climb the couch so as to reach him.

Instinctively, Tom bent down and offered his arm to it, which it took and began coiling around his arm.

" **Tom, meet Jormy. Jormy meet Tom."** Cordelia whispered softly looking at him intently.

" **Is he dumb?** " the snake asked in irritation.

 **"No,"** Tom found himself replying back and petted the head of 'his' snake.

" **She is an Apophis. A rare magical breed from Egypt. She is a female and her full name is Jormugandr. I took the liberty of naming her and giving her the nickname Jormy."** Cordelia informed him.

"After the Norse World serpent…" Tom muttered.

"Yes…" She whispered back.

"She is mine…" Tom looked at her hopefully. There was something akin to attachment that he was feeling for this snake. Snakes had been his first friends.

"Yes…" Cordelia smiled at him, "She was supposed to be in her large box with the other stuff but…like you see...she is little excitable. Though she is tame."

" **You are mine."** He told the snake.

" **Aye, I will live with you. I will protect you. I will bite people for you. Do you want me to bite her? She is a little annoying. She would not let me see you."** The snake chatted happily.

" **NO…"** Tom hissed rather loudly **, "You are never to hurt her. Ever."** He said very pointedly.

" **Never…"** The snake looked wistfully. He heard Cordelia snigger at that.

" **Never**." Tom resolutely repeated.

" **Not even if she is hurting you."** The snake asked in amusement.

 **"Not even when she is hurting me. She is my best friend."** Tom nodded and said slowly to make the snake understand.

" **Is she your nest mate? She looks like your nest mate…"** The snake asked.

But before Tom could comprehend what the snake was saying, he heard Abraxas say, "She is beautiful. Where did you find her Corrie?"

"Well, I wrote to several eminent snake breeders. One of them wrote back positively." Cordelia smiled, moving her hand to pet Jormy.

 **"Nah, I will not eat her ever. She pets better than you…"** The snake almost purred, " **Yes, lady. Keep doing that…"**

That made both Tom and Cordelia laugh.

"Will she eat us?" Cygnus asked with a little fear.

"She understands English even though she cannot speak it." Cordelia murmured to him as she moved to her own present pile in the center of the room.

"You are not to eat anyone in this room." Tom instructed the snake for the benefit of Cygnus.

 **"Ever?"** She asked.

 **"We will see about that. But not for a few days..,"** Tom whispered back. He was sure that Cordelia would hurt him if she heard him. But he did not like Cygnus just yet.

Even though his present was far better than a stupid broom. He petted the snake again.

"Leave her by the fire… the one at the side. She will be safe and she loves it." Cordelia told him, "Come, open the rest of your presents."

Tom realized that he had a decent sized pile in front of him.

He went and placed Jormy on the rug beside the fireplace.

He came and sat beside Cordelia. One of his boxes, a rather large one was askew.

"She was supposed to be in it. She does not have a patient bone. She even came to last night's dinner before all of you arrived." Cordelia shook her head as she ruffled through her pile, searching for something.

Tom opened the box completely. It seemed Cordelia had thought of everything. There was a cushioned basket, a sort of perch for her to coil on, a few chew toys and a book on his snake's breed, Apophis.

"They have details like their food, the kind of weather they are comfortable in. Apart from other details. Apophis are unique as they are very large and bulky, larger than reticulous pythons and are still very venomous. There will be grooming spells and other stuff such as that." Cordelia's voice informed him.

She had found his present. Tom had a pit on his stomach. It was not her real present. It was just a book on healing that he had found with Goblins. There was an auction of rare artefacts from confiscated vaults. They had wrote to him and he had picked several things. One among them was this book. It was old. From about 15th century.

"The threads of body and mind." He heard her whisper in awe.

"Where did you find this?" She shot at him curiously.

The awe on her face was infectious. But Tom did not like this gift. It was too impersonal. Practical but emotionless. Thought he took pride in practicality, he detested it when it came to Cordelia.

"The Goblins had an auction." He told her. He did not tell her why he had come in touch with goblins. That she would find out tonight.

He was wrapped in a hug. He suppose he should have hugged her after the gift but he had been afraid of squeezing Jormy and had been in a shock over her thoughtfulness. He took satisfaction in wrapping himself around her. Her awe and the fact that she had chosen to open his present first made him feel all the more smug.

And soon they were making way through their pile.

Cordelia had received practice snitches from Abraxas, jewelry from Alphard and Orion, a beginnners' warding toolkit from her Father, a lot of silk gowns from her mother and she was still opening.

Tom had opened his slowly and carefully, evens slower than Cordelia who was treating the presents as if they were gossamer. Abraxas had given him a dagger with an emerald and ivory hilt. "From Father and me." He had said, "Every lord should have one."

He had stared at it for some time but he had spent a lot of time staring at Cordelia's reaction of her own presents. She was fascinating to watch.

He moved his eyes away from the several ornate pairs of cufflinks that Dorea had got him and moved on the second largest box after the one Jormy was supposed to be in.

He saw the signature. He gave Cordelia a confused look, "You already gave me one."

"They are all part of a larger present." Cordelia just smiled at him but she moved away from her pile to see him open her second present.

The box had holes in it so Tom reckoned that it was a living thing.

He opened the Box and was surprised to see two ball of fur wrapped up inside a basket. One Black and the other snow white.

With a startle, Tom realized that they were baby cats.

"Kneazles…"Cordelia whispered.

Both the fur balls moved as light hit their faces.

Cordelia pointed to the Black one, "That beauty is Nyx. And that handsome ball is Lux."

'Night and Light." Tom whispered.

Nyx opened her eyes and Tom almost melted in those eyes. It was a shade quite similar to Cordelia's. Tom knew she was going to his favorite out of the two. And Lux opened his with a yawn. Blue eyes.

The kneazles represented them. Just then Tom decided that he would make sure that they were taken care of.

Just like Jormy, there was their basket, two-three cushions, Catfood, chew toys but other stuff as well. Weaning bottles and Milk formula and stuff.

'They are still weaning. They are barely two weeks old. Kneazles mature faster than cats early on but it will be some time before they can take care of themselves. We will have to be very agile and careful in taking care of them for the next month or so"

Him. Take care of baby kneazles. Tom's throat choked.

"Jormy wanted to eat them before she smelled them. She asked me to warn you that kneazles taste horrible." Cordelia chuckled.

"She is not going to eat them." Tom's voice was forceful.

"I made that quite clear. I also informed her that when they are a bit older, the kneazles might chase rats with her. She was mighty pleased." Cordelia informed him as she lightly moved a finger on Lux's fur.

"What do you have there?" It was Lucretia's curious voice and Tom felt her come up behind them.

'Oh, they are adorable." She knelt down beside them.

All the woman had soon surrounded them.

Tom did not pay attention to the cooing. He was still staring the baby kneazles. He could not believe that Cordelia had trusted him with something this delicate. These kittens could die if he would not take good care of them.

"Don't be overwhelmed. I will help out. I don't expect you to do everything. I am sure girls would help. Even Cygnus seems to be in love with them. But if it is too much, we can always return them back…" Cordelia whispered to him in his ears.

"No..." Tom looked at her, "thank you, they are beautiful. We will keep them."

Cordelia gently picked Lux in her arms and Tom did the same for Nyx. They just stared at Tom and Cordelia through their big eyes.

Tom thought he could cry if anyone even touched him wrong.

Tom did not stare away from his beautiful kneazle until an owl hoot startled the room.

"She is such a beauty." It was Alphard who spoke now.

It was a snowy owl.

"Zee…'Cordelia smiled, "That must be the reply from Burke."

The owl came and dropped the letter in Cordelia's lap. Cordelia carefully put Lux back in their basket and took the letter.

"Why don't you bring your twin while I get Cherry to bring you some bacon?" She asked the owl who hooted and left.

"You got a new owl." Tom said.

"My owl had mated in France before I came to Hogwarts. I did not have the heart to separate her from her owl babies. So, I left her at home. But an owl is a must for an Heiress." Cordelia muttered.

"I need to buy one too." Tom said thoughtfully, as he placed Nyx back.

"No, you don't." Cordelia gave him a smug smile.

"What do you mean?" Tom looked at her in confusion.

Two Snowy owls descended on them.

'Tom, meet Quetzelcoatl, your owl, named after an Aztec God. It means feathered serpent. I call him Quetzie but he answers to both. And meet my owl Zephyr, named after the west wind of Greece. Nicknamed Zee. They are twins. They were giving a lot of trouble to the proprietor as they were very aggressive about separating from each other. Got them for a good deal." Cordelia smiled and extended both her hands.

Both the birds came and settled on her arms.

"I can't accept that." Tom said immediately.

"You would make me return them…" Cordelia said with wide eyes.

"No…" Tom said. Her expression made him suspicious.

"You will make me take care of two owls" Cordelia made her eyes even wider and said in a small voice.

"I…" Tom said.

"Quetzie will be a faithful owl…Won't you Quetzie?" Cordelia urged the owl.

The Owl flew to Tom and began hooting happily and if Tom was correct, hopefully.

He glanced at Cordelia's hopeful and pleading expression and sighed, "Okay."

His owl affectionately nibbled on his ears and Tom could not help but smile.

"Cherry, bring bacon for the owls and a small stunned rat for Jormy." Cordelia called out softly…

Tom just kept looking at his mini zoo with a smile. His eyes met Cordelia and he knew that his love shone through his eyes.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

It was around nine in the night. Christmas was nearly over. Cordelia was sitting in her room in front of a mirror and brushing her hair as she was lost in thoughts.

The day had gone well. Tom seemed to have appreciated her presents and he had looked happy at receiving them. Cordelia had actually taken a cue from Hagrid for Tom's first present. As June, the first decent gift she had received was her owl, Hedwig. She was more than just attached to that owl. She had been an undeterred companion for the best and worst of times for June.

Familiar Companions were a blessing. They took away the loneliness, showered ample love on you and to an extent also demanded it.

It would be a good exercise for Tom to care for things beyond himself and Cordelia. He would learn the reciprocity of love.

So, Jormy was probably lounging in front of the fire at Tom's room, while Zee and Quetzie roamed about in Tom's room.

Cordelia had taken the night duty for the baby kneazles. They were still potty training, weaning and were usually dependent on their mother and needed ample warmth.

Cordelia had, of course, enlisted Cherry's elf. The elf had nursed her as a baby. She probably knew it better than Cordelia.

So, she had fed the baby kneazles and they were now sleeping in their basket wrapped under in thick and soft quilts for plenty of warmth.

Cordelia tugged hard at one of her tangles.

There was a light knock at her door.

She was not expecting anyone, but she got up and went to open the door herself. It was Tom. He had never come into her room. They had usually spent the time dueling in the dungeons or pouring over one or the other book in his guest room.

'Tom…" She said in surprise but left the door ajar and gave him room to enter.  
She was hoping that the adults were drowsy and lounging about after the Christmas Dinner and the time they spent in the family room, singing Christmas carols.

She could swear that tom had wanted to hit somebody when Alphard and Orion had broken into 'God rest ye Merry hippogriifs' the third time.

"Am I intruding?" Tom asked softly, hesitantly still standing at the door.

She gave him a small glare and tugged his hand forward until he was in the room and shut the door behind him.

"You have to ask.." She said in an annoyed tone.

He did not smile or roll his eyes. That told Cordelia that something was weighing on his mind.

"Are you okay? Is Jormy bothering you?" She asked carefully.

"She is such a pampered princess." Tom made a face but his eyes had a fond look, "No, she is sleeping after lecturing me for an hour about how to take care of her properly."

"Well, Apophis are considered a bit of a royalty in the snake kingdom. After basilisks, that is." Cordelia snorted.

She turned around to check on the Nyx and Lux. They had rolled themselves in the tiny quilts.

She turned around to look at Tom. He was taking in the room and his eyes were frozen on the pictures on her bedside.

This room was a temporary arrangement. It lacked Cordelia's personal touch. She never left anything behind here because Arcturus just ordered stuff cleaned and thrown out.

The only decoration was the picture frames that she brought each time and took back.

There was a new picture in the collection. It was of Tom and her hugging after the Quidditch match.

"I will make you a copy." She told him after seeing the longing in his eyes.

Tom nodded gratefully, swallowing.

"So, what brings you to my humble abode?" She asked him as she went back to place the hairbrush back near the mirror.

It was Tom's turn to snort.

"Well, I wanted to give you your 'real' Christmas present." He said with a little hesitation.

"One of the rarest tomes on healing was not enough." She mocked him.

"No, it was not." He softly replied.

She just stared at him.

"Face the mirror and close your eyes." He softly requested.

Cordelia huffed but did as she was told.

She did not open her eyes but she felt something cool and egg shaped rest against her neck and she felt Tom's fingers, a feather light touch, as he lifted her hair a bit and clasped a chain.

She opened her eyes before he bid her too and gasped.

The locket of Slytherin, in all its glory, adorned her neck.

"I can't accept this…" She mimicked his stance from the morning.

"Too bad, it is already given. It cannot be taken back." Tom murmured. His hands had not moved from behind the back. She could see his mirror image staring at satisfaction on the locket on her neck.

"It is where it belongs." He said in a determined voice.

"Tom, this is a priceless heirloom. It is older than Hogwarts. It is your legacy. Your only legacy. It probably belonged to your mother. I cannot just take it…" She protested weakly. She did not want it honestly, but something about the gesture, something about the way that she was now claimed as Slytherin's, as Tom's, wanted that locket to stay in her neck.

"And you are more priceless than it is. You recovered it. My legacy is important to me but you are too. Perhaps more important. I want people to know that you are under my protection." Tom said forcefully.

"So, you think I need protection?" She lightly asked, her voice still faint as her fingers lightly brushed the emerald of the locket.

"Yes, you do. Besides it is warded and has the best goblin protections." Tom informed.

"It had nothing yesterday." She shook her head but now she could feel the soft tendrils of magic in its make.

"I asked Goblins to put their best security and safety runes on this." Tom admitted.

"A day before Christmas. They would have ripped you off." She scolded.

"It was worth it." Tom shrugged, "As long as you are wearing it, it should repel and shield against most spells."

"You should not have" She murmured, her fingers still playing with the crude design of the locket.

"I had my mind made up. I would not have my legacy, any of it, if it were not for you..." Tom admitted. He gently wrapped his arms around her.

She leaned into his chest, breathing a little heavily.

She would admit it. She was overwhelmed.

'Besides, it looks pretty on you. That is a better use than just throwing it back in the vault." Tom admitted.

She hit his arm lightly as he kissed her hair with a smile.

Cordelia was just staring at the locket.

"So, will you keep it?" Tom asked, hope in his voice.

"I would be honored." She softly responded, turned around and pressed her lips against his cheeks for a long time.

"What if I lose it?" She asked in worry the next moment.

"You won't. You are very careful about possessions." Tom rolled his eyes, "Besides it cannot be lifted off your neck, until you remove it. And you don't even need to remove it for mock duels. You can just will it to turn off its protection for some while." He informed.

"You are really giving it to me?" She asked next in a furious whisper.

"Yes, Lia. It is yours…" He chuckled.

"You are insane…" She muttered as she took in the locket again, looking at him with fond eyes.

* * *

 **Lo and Behold! Another chapter done.**

 **This was a very fine chapter to write. I had even more fun when I was planning out their familiars. There will be more of them eventually. As you probably noticed, Cordelia still does not have a snake. And she will need it to use advanced parselmagic for healing.**

 **Apophis is a breed I made up. I wanted a big snake which was also poisonous and intelligent. I have modeled her after a witty Nagini that I have read in multiple fics. I know that Jormugandr is technically a male name but I really, really like it.**

 **I thought the pet kneazles were a cute idea. You will see both Cordelia and Tom parenting them in future. *Chuckles***

 **Did you notice that Jormy referred to them as 'nestmates'? Let us just say, she is going to fulfill the role of the teasing friend for Tom. Once Tom realizes what she means, he is going to be a little flustered.**

 **That's it. Hope you liked it.**

 **PLEASE REVIEW.**


	32. Chapter 26: The Slytherin Chambers

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue** ** _"_**

* * *

 **Chapter 26**

 **The Slytherin Chambers**

 **Evelyn's POV**

Eve had been waiting for this day with her heart in her throat. Sure, she had received that message from Malfoy of all people about Cordelia's safety, and she had received a present from Cordelia on Christmas and a card for season's greetings.

But it had not been enough. She had to see. See her alive and fine to believe it.

She pushed her trolley faster at the King's Cross station.

She reached the barrier, closed her eyes and ran through it. She opened her eyes to a spectacle of magical people. It was as if somebody inserted new life into her. She was about to turn her head to find Cordelia and the party when she heard a laughter that permeated through everything. It was her laugh.

Eve turned her head and moved a little ahead to find Cordelia surrounded by a ton of people. Her cousins, Slytherin and Gryffindor quidditch teams, a few other people from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff and of course, Tom.

She was holding Charles Potter's hands as both of them chattered away about something.

Just then, Zabini saw Cordelia, exchanged looks with Alphard and both of them lifted Cordelia into air in a cradle the two formed with their arms. She heard Charles' roar of laughter, Tom's chuckling and countless other laughs. They moved her about in a circle to her protests and giggles and put her down after kissing the sides of her forehead.

She smacked their heads lightly. But she looked happy.

A few other people came and congratulated her for her recovery and Cordelia, with her benign smile, politely kept giving everyone the season's greetings.

Abraxas began ushering the lot into the train. Cordelia stood, watching her cousins climb with a fond smile.

Tom came and wrapped his arms lightly around her waist. Their trunks hovered behind him. Cordelia leaned into him, looked at him, gave a smile, stood up on her toes and kissed his chin lightly.

In that moment, Eve knew that things would be just fine. They had to be. The balance was struck again.

She smiled and pushed her trolley to search for Amara and others.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

Attending the dinner after Christmas vacation was not mandatory, as Tom discovered when Cordelia chanted yet another rule from Hogwarts by laws.

He had given her a look.

 _"Don't look at me like that. You have read the charter too." She had made a face at him._

 _"Yes, but I have not memorized the trivial details." Tom said with dignity._

 _"It is not trivial when it gives us an extra hour and a half to do what we want to before everybody barges in the dorms." She had furiously whispered to him._

 _Tom had raised his hands in surrender_.

Now they both stood in front of the vast Slytherin common room, wondering, how exactly could you get the Slytherin Heir and Lord Rooms to open? The Chambers of Slytherin, not the chamber of secret.

"It is bound to be here. It will not be through the doors of the boys or girls dorms because technically, a heir or Lord is above them." Cordelia said absent mindedly.

"Or an Heiress or Lady." Tom murmured. He was trying to be more sensitive about it. You learned to be more careful with words when Cordelia was around.

"Yes, I don't think Slytherin cared about gender as much as he cared about power or character." Cordelia agreed, then added, "But that does not answer out question."

"There are snakes all over the room." Tom pointed out.

"I am pretty sure that all of them are pathways to some other end of Castle. No, a snake is too plebian. Any parselmouth can open it. We need something specific to an Heir." Cordelia rubbed her chin.

"Like my Lord ring." Tom asked skeptically.

"It is a coiled snake with an open jaw and an emerald within the jaw, right?" She asked, still thinking.

Tom nodded, 'Unusual design. I thought that it was a key to the vault but it isn't. Maybe, it is for the chambers?"

"Well, what use is a key when we do not know about the lock?" Cordelia wondered.

"We will find it. We have 75 minutes to go." Tom said.

They began looking around again. They spent some 15 minutes just looking around on the walls.

"Have you ever wondered what is in the center of the two doors that lead to the respective dorms?" Tom asked after he had stared at the middle space too long.

"Well, it is not rooms. The rooms are on the other side and they coil around in a corridor on the other side." Cordelia said, looking up and alert, "Father told me about it though, something a while ago, as a child. It was a funny story."

"What is funny about a plain blank wall?" Tom looked confused.

"Well, it was a story that involved this area and it was funny. The wall was not funny. In fact, it was not a wall at all, if I remember clearly. It was an ancient giant fireplace, though in disuse. One of the previous Slytherin king got it closed because it looked ugly." She blinked as if in a daze.

Tom realized that she had been pulling out her memory with her father through occlumency.

It was a very handy mind art.

"A Giant fireplace. Now, that might be an entrance." Tom said with interest.

"Elf…" Cordelia called.

"Yes, Mistress. What can Dummel do for you?" The elf asked.

"Can you remove that wall?" Cordelia asked.

Tom just stared. The elf would not remove an actual wall of Hogwarts. Or would he?

"I cannot do any construction related work without Headmaster's permission." The elf said mournfully with drooping ears.

Tom thought that sounded more like it.

"What about by the decree of a Hogwarts Lord?" Cordelia bent down and looked the elf in the eye.

"Well, we is tied to Hogwarts and an Heir of Founders comes before Headmaster, so I is able to do it." The elf replied gingerly.

Tom removed the shield from his magic and bent down too.

'Dummel, could you please remove that wall. As Lord of Slytherin, I need access to the Slytherin chambers." Tom said politely.

Sure, he had seen how others treated elves.

Walburga was indifferent, Lord Black had been a tyrant but Tom usually followed Cordelia's ruling.

And she was always kind to elves.

The elf's eyes grew bigger, probably because of the feel of Tom's magic. He promptly nodded and vanished the brick of the wall, revealing indeed an ancient and unkempt fireplace.

They both thanked the elf and he popped with sputtering greetings.

"Skurgo Maxima." Cordelia waved her wand.

The soot and the dust and the construction material disappeared, revealing a clean if ruined fireplace.

"I wonder why they never refurbished it." Cordelia asked out aloud.

Tom shrugged.

They took it in the fireplace.

"The lock would be magically preserved." Cordelia prompted.

"Leaving only the most preserved part of the fireplace as our option." Tom said, promptly looking at the crest of the fireplace.

Sure enough, there was a round hole in the roof of the crest.

Cordelia pointed her wand at it and wordlessly cleared out the debris.

She put in her finger and felt it.

'There is an opening…" She confirmed.

Tom pulled his hand up, placed his ring finger near the hole. His Lord ring got fixed in the hole with a click. He moved it to the right and magic swirled out from the ring and with a louder click, the fireplace began moving backwards.

It moved backwards and slid to the side, revealing a large opening.

"I guess this is it…." Cordelia murmured with a slight smile.

"We found it…." Tom murmured happily.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

The Slytherin Chambers were humongous. Cordelia had no memory of them as June as she had not explored the Slytherin dorms. She had no need for it. Though, she had heard of it from Salazar.

But the Slytherin chambers were grand. They raised from the lowest dungeons to one of the thicker and lower towers of Hogwarts. It was larger than the entire Slytherin dorm.

Tom and she spent the next hour exploring.

The dungeons were prison cells. Tom and she just exchanged a look and sealed them behind a tight door with wards. They did not want to give anybody ideas just yet. They kept on the large staircase instead which led them to the second lowest level.

It had several empty rooms. Whatever had been in them had been cleaned out long ago. But they opened into grounds.

If they opened the windows, the rooms would be quite airy.

"They can serve as temporary headquarters until we find an alternative…" Cordelia murmured.

"Wait, why can't they be permanent?" Tom gave her a look.

"I was not sure if you want them to invade your privacy like that." Cordelia replied, giving a glance to the last room which looked like an ancient potions lab.

"I am pretty sure the living quarters are away from this and I shared a dorm with other boys and I lived in an orphanage." Tom replied.

"I just thought you might like some privacy?" She shot back.

"The top floors will be warded separately," Tom said pointedly, looking amused.

"As you say, Tom…." She murmured and they both climbed another flight of stairs.

The third layer was made up of dueling arenas and rings in a large hall with ward stones to separate each arena.

In the end of the hall, there were humanoid figures.

"Golems…" Tom murmured.

"We need to seal this away until we find a safe secure place to store them. They are dark magic, very powerful dark magic. We don't want them to fall in wrong hands." Cordelia said urgently, bending down on her knees to examine them.

"We will. Anyway, we are not opening this wing to anybody just yet. We need to make an inventory of everything we find, map it, clean it, and furnish it properly before we let anybody in." Tom said.

"Yes, good thing we brought extra furniture." Cordelia said, her mind elsewhere.

The third floor or the second layer were living quarters. Rooms larger than the ones in the dorm but not too ostentatious.

"Guest rooms. We can worry about them later. But I am glad that there is a buffer between actual living quarters and dueling arena. Though I could sense wards and we will put up ours too, it is a little…" She trailed off.

They found the Master bedroom on the fourth floor. They were a nice living quarters with a large living room by the side. A few normal rooms, kitchen, a preserved library and then they reached the Master bedroom.

It was as large as Cordelia's rooms in the Black Chateau. It had two fireplaces. It was bare currently. There were two doors to the right and to the left.

They entered one door to the right first. It led to a large bathroom. About the same size as the prefect's bath but more luxurious. Of course, it was dirty right now but with cleaning and works, it would be pretty good.

Tom stepped out and opened the second door, it was a large corridor and it had a door to the back of the wall and one right in front.

Tom opened the door in the front. It was another bedroom.

"The chambers of the Slytherin consort." Cordelia informed, "I am sure they have another door. It was just sealed and hidden because of some reason."

The room faced differently than the Master bedroom. They were shaped like an L.

"That means that door would lead to a nursery." She murmured and entered the corridor again and opened the door to the back.

Sure enough. It was a spacious nursery. Unfurnished again.

"This can be Lux and Nyx's room and even Jormy can lounge in if you get irritated of her sometimes. Or she could take the consort rooms."

Tom gave her a weird look but did not say anything.

She just shrugged it off.

'And that other door must lead to the balcony." She smiled and threw it open.

And indeed it was a balcony. It had another door that probably led back to the main areas of living quarters and not the bedroom.

It had a few raised empty flowerbeds, a few fountains with no water and it had a raised large bowl in the center.

"A scurrying mirror…" Cordelia murmured.

"It must have been a terrace garden of sorts." Tom suggested.

She nodded, "looks like it."

"Let us get to work." They shared a look and began pulling their magic.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

An hour later, with the help of a dozen of Hogwarts house elves, the entire living quarters were gleaming.

They went down to greet the Slytherins, informed them about the discovery and said that they would soon get to see it and not to let it out of the house.  
They, of course, declared his lordship which was received very well. Tom was not really paying attention but he was sure there were people who would dissent. The task of observing the reactions had been assigned to Walburga, Dorea, Abraxas and Orion.

They pulled out the extra shrunken furniture from Cordelia's second trunk and Tom's second trunk which was Cordelia's present to him on his birthday.

They furnished everything in the main living quarters, i.e., the fourth layer of the Slytherin Chambers.

Tom had put up Cordelia's favorite bed in the consort room. He hoped that she got the hint. He wanted her to live in those quarters with him. Otherwise, he was going to have a talk with her anyway.

The Balcony was cleaned out completely. Fresh water was poured into the fountains and they were now running, thanks to elfin magic. Between, Cordelia and him, they had enough seeds and saplings to plant the entire flowerbeds. The elves helped with everything.

It looked quite homey when the two of them were done.

The fires were roaring in the fireplace. The place was filled with rugs and tasteful furniture and since Cordelia had opened the windows before casting the warming charms. The whole place did smell fresh.  
But Tom suspected some spells and elfin magic in work too.

Cordelia looked exhausted. Tom was sure he did too.

"Just stay…" he said softly.

She nodded, "I am just pulling out our zoo."

Jormy was quite impressed with everything. She even went into the nursery quietly.

Nyx and Lux were considerably bigger but they still drank milk from bottles. After they were fed and tucked in, Tom was feeling exhausted but not quite sleepy.

They both took quick showers in the refurbished bathrooms. Tom was tempted to take a soak in the Jacuzzi styled tub. He seriously was but he had something to do that could not wait any longer. But the shower helped.

He had changed into warm night clothes and entered the master bedroom. It was empty.

He found Cordelia standing in the huge balcony staring at Hogwarts grounds while her hands clasped the railings.

"Hogwarts is really beautiful in winter." She murmured.

"It is beautiful perennially." Tom murmured, brushing his hands at her back and pulling her close. He was not sure he was just referring to Hogwarts.

She was wearing a white cotton nightie that went a little over her knees and was otherwise sleeveless. He was afraid that she was cold.

It was then that he realized that the entire balcony was swamped in warming charms. He still wrapped himself around her. She leaned into his touch almost instinctively and lightly placed her hands on his clasped hands.

The chain of the locket in her neck gleamed. The locket itself was snuggly secure underneath her clothes.

"I don't want to sleep." She looked at him with her eyes. They looked innocent and honest. Quite unlike the look she pulled with him to get him to do something.

"Then we won't sleep." He murmured, kissed her forehead and pulled her down to the ground, where his summoned rug, pillows and quilt were already spread out.

"We can watch the stars." She mumbled with a small smile.

The pillows were put up against a raised flower bed. Their legs were draped with the enormous quilt and they began looking up at the stars.

A few minutes later, Cordelia was describing how Ursa major and minor were really two lovers who had the animagus forms of bears. They wanted to be remembered for eternity for their love so they did a ritual that made them into stars.

She was saying that it was a sorry way of declaring love. Tom, somehow agreed. Spending an eternity as a cold, non-living thing was not how he envisioned his life, even for love.

"We can put a telescope there. I think I saw a really good one in the alley." Cordelia was chattering excitably. She again pointed upwards and was describing something.

Her eyes were sparkling with happiness and she had a wide smile. Tom was no longer looking at the sky. He was staring at the moon and stars of his life.

For the first time, Tom let himself examine her lips properly. Sure, he had stared at them sometimes. But he always stared at her as a whole.

Today, he really allowed himself to observe their shape, their soft texture, the way they molded when she spoke, the way they molded when she smiled.

He knew his eyes had a light and his face was lit up.

He thought that Cordelia finally realized that he was not really paying attention to what she was saying because she gave him a confused look.

Tom thought about waiting, hesitating but he had wanted this for so long, so long that he closed his eyes and just bent his neck and softly pressed his lips against hers. He moved it once and then again.

Tom had not really thought that Cordelia would reject him. He had not.

But when he felt pressure on his lips from her, a delight coursed through his body. He gently tightened the arms he already had around her and kissed her again as their lips moved against each other softly but boldly.

In that moment, Tom decided that he really, really liked kissing Cordelia. Her lips were smooth and soft and when their warm mouths met, all he wanted to do was pull her closer.

Which he had, Cordelia was now sitting on his lap with Tom's one arm wrapped snugly around her waist and another as a support behind her neck. Her fingers were knotted and laced his hair. And they were still kissing.

Tom was not ready to let go just yet. They were taking small breaks for even breathing without looking at each other before again pouncing on each other's lips.

Tom had wanted this, wanted this the moment he saw her in the orphanage with her cheeky smile. He wanted to kiss that smile, see her eyes widen as he captured her lips, as he felt the softness that he had imagined there would be.

He had again wanted to do it, so many times, as they lay entwined in front of that fireplace.

However, he had wanted it to be at Hogwarts, his home, their home. But patience was not Tom's strong suit. It had been very difficult for him to hold himself and his temptation.

He had nearly lost it again on Christmas seeing her clad in his locket and then again on his birthday. She had taken him to a New Year's Carnival in Muggle Cardiff. They had spent the day laughing, running around, being kids and Tom had wanted to claim her so many times, so many times, but he had exercised restrain.

There was no need for it today. No need. They were at home, in Slytherin chambers, in a budding terrace garden with flowing fountains and a bright, starlit night.

What more could he ask for?

He finally kissed her softly once more and stopped, nuzzling her slightly. He could feel her smile and see it. He rested his forehead against hers.

"Took you long enough…" He heard her mutter as she opened her eyes in amusement.

"Were you waiting for it?" Tom softly asked. She just raised her brow before lightly kissing his cheek.

"I would have made the move myself. Screw tradition. But I did not want to scare you off…' She admitted.

"Kissing would scare me off? Not if it is anything like this…" Tom said boldly and again captured her lips. After a slow, soft, small kiss, Tom admitted, "I wanted it to be somewhere meaningful. And that is Hogwarts for me. This is the only place I have felt like at home. This is where I met you…This is where…you get the drift…" He shook his head.

She nodded with an understanding smile and kissed him again. She seemed quite excited by it and Tom did not fight for dominance. He had his chance at it earlier.

But a couple of minutes later, he could not help it and they were again engaged in a fierce lip lock.

Tom gently ended it. She lightly bit her lip but they were not moving away from each other, their noses were still softly nuzzling each other's cheeks.

"I love you…" Tom murmured because he could not keep it in any longer, kissing her nose gently. He felt her smile and then she bend on her knees on his lap, raising herself a little higher than his head.

"I love you too…silly." She kissed his forehead and plopped back on his lap, placing her head on the crook of his neck.

"I guess this should keep your suitors away…"Tom said hopefully.

Cordelia let out a delighted laugh, "It should…"

"Hmm…I like it. My lia…" He murmured, wafting his hand through her hair.

"My tom…" She said with a glint in her eye.

"Yours…" Tom nodded and they kissed again.

'I guess we should do it formally." Tom gave her a look and formally asked, "Cordelia Faye Black, will you give me, Tom Marvolo Riddle, the honor of courting you?"

"Sic, oui, si, nai, yes, **Yes…"** She nodded as she murmured yes in different languages. She kissed his face after her every word.

They kissed softly one more before separating.

"So as I was saying….Wizarding World has more stories about constellations. Different than the muggle counterparts…" She began talking, pointing towards the sky.

Tom just looked and listened to her in amusement.

Fifteen minutes later, she let out a large yawn.

"C'mon, we should sleep. It is nearing 4 and we have a class at 9…" He murmured.

She nodded sleepily.

She got off his lap and was about to get up, when Tom tightened his arms around her and lifted her up in his arms.

Her eyes widened in panic, "I can walk…" She protested.

"I am not ready to let you out of my arms just yet. You can walk all day tomorrow."" Tom murmured and took her to the bed in Master bedroom.

Cordelia was adrift as soon as placed her on the bed. Tom kissed her forehead one last time and tucked them under the blanket, spooned her from behind and closed his eyes with a sigh of contentment.

Morpheus claimed him in seconds too.

* * *

 **I specifically did not write it any longer because I wanted it to sink in. Hope it was all sweet and nice. This is my first time writing a kiss, so spare me.**

 **But I enjoyed writing his chapter. I had been playing with different versions of this kiss in my head for so long that I was afraid that it would not play out as I wanted it to when I wrote it.**

 **But as it happens, I quite like this version. I admit that it could have been better, more sappiness but I thought that Tom was more focused on putting a claim on her than explaining his feelings. He is not good at it yet, but yes soon, they will talk about their feelings for each other too.**

 **Please Review.**

 **Disclaimer: The name Jormugandr has been used in the fic Again and Again and Quetzalcoatl has been used in Snake whisper. I really liked them and thought they suited my story.**

 **BIG BAD NEWS FLASH: I AM GOING ON A HIATUS FOR TWO MONTHS.**

 **I know this is a very sad news and before you start cursing me, it is for the next 2 months. My migraines are bad. I have too much work and I am having a hard time juggling. Last time, when it got this bad, I already had chapters written and I edited them and posted. But as of now, I have no word written after this chapter. I do not want to compromise on the quality of my story. I do not want to compromise on the length of the chapters and I sure as hell do not want to compromise on my health. So, I need to take this break. Hope all of you will be nice about it and understand.**

 **Consider it a season break of sorts.**

 **I AM NOT ABANDONING THIS. I will be back after 2 months. I promise. I just need some time to get a little ahead with the story. Maybe type out a few chapters. I have the storyline in my head but migraines make it difficult to stare on to the screen for long times. So bear with me and you will read me again after 2 months. Cheers.**


	33. Chapter 27: The Aftershocks

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan.

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing

* * *

.

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue** ** _"_**

* * *

 **Previously**

Cordelia is hit with a stupefy maxima a few days before Christmas Holidays and since staircases were shifting, she fell down a few floors. Tom and her cousins watched it all but were unable to stop it. Her cousins froze and Tom was disarmed. Cordelia went into a magical coma.

The Blacks, Malfoys and Potters stormed the castle. Cordelia and others were taken home before the break. Tom broke down and Evelyn saw him. She told him about Renatus and he stormed off. Tom turned down the offer of Abraxas to go home with them like Cordelia and he had planned. He went back to the orphanage.

A day into the Christmas break, Cordelia came to the orphanage in the middle of night and sort of whisked him away. Next day, Tom got his lordship and met with the Blacks and Malfoy. Hyperion Malfoy and Cordelia sort of put Arcturus Black in a tight spot and he had to allow Tom as a guest to the Black manor where the Blacks and Malfoys have retreated for the break. Malfoy writes to Evelyn informing her of Cordelia's recovery.

Cordelia tells him about being a child of magic and what it entails (She is a magicae). Magic is dying and they need to strike out the balance between 'Light' and 'Dark'. Tom and Cordelia introduce the Hogwarts Court to her cousins. Cordelia retrieves the locket of Slytherin from Borgin & Burke, and obliviates Borgan of ever having the locket. She gives the locket to Tom. Tom also meets Cygnus Black but does not really like him much because he is envious of the attention Cordelia gives Cygnus.

Christmas morning: Tom gets a range of familiars from Cordelia as a present. Jormugandr (Jormy), a female apophis magical snake, two baby kneazles called Nyx and Lux and a snowy owl called Quetzalcoatl. Tom gifts her a rare healing tome in front of others but later, in private, he bestows her with the Slytherin locket and clasps it on her neck. It has various protective goblin enhancements on it now.

Time skip to first day back at Hogwarts: Tom and Cordelia find the Slytherin Chambers (not chamber of secrets but private quarters of Slytherin) attached to the Slytherin dorm. They clean it up and furnish it with the help of Hogwarts elf. At the end of night, Tom kisses Cordelia and both profess their love for each other. They formalize their courtship.

* * *

 **Chapter 27**

 **The Aftershocks**

 **Eve's POV**

After seeing Tom and Cordelia at the King's Cross together and happy, I had thought that life at Hogwarts would return to normalcy.

It was wishful thinking.

To be honest, I had known that the calm of Hogwarts would not last when I had first seen Cordelia at her sorting. I had known that she was a harbinger of change even when I had just heard about her in the train. I mean, the whole train had been abuzz the first day of our fourth year. Boys could not stop gushing about her beauty and women were just cursing their luck. I had been intrigued. I had seen quite a many pureblood women; they were beauties in their own right and if somebody could threaten the Queen of Beauty Lyra Greengrass, then things were bound to get interesting.

And they did.

On her very first night, her mannerisms had rattled the school. She was different than the purebloods that I had seen, so very courteous and considerate, not just to the crowd that would have benefitted her but to everybody. At first, I had thought that it was all an act, but her easy smile, her socializing with my friends in the library, her love for her cousins and her friendship with Tom Riddle, all of them together, convinced me that I had been unfair to her.

Sure, she was different and Hogwarts changed when she came but it was not malicious. Houses interacted more, there was less tension in the student groups and for the first time, Slytherin lost its coldness. We saw them as humans for the first time; perhaps they allowed their masks to fall. But that is just my guess.

On the night of sorting, she had come clad in a Hogwarts uniform but that did not hide her beauty. Perfect does not cover her. She was beautiful, ethereal, from her mannerisms to her face to her body to her dazzling but kind smile. And soon I would discover her prowess in magic, her impeccable wit and sheer intelligence. Frankly, I had never seen so much elegance in anybody but Tom Riddle, the elusive, but charming muggleborn in Slytherin.

Honestly, he did not seem like a muggleborn, sometimes. He knew stuff and was just too closely attuned to magic. I had not given him more thought than this. He was just a classmate. I paid him no mind usually, perhaps because of my guilt. Tom was an orphan and I was the daughter of a baron, a really rich man. Despite being a muggleborn, I was used to luxury and I knew my fair share of horror stories about the orphanages of Great Britain. There was low food, no accommodation and few supplies in light of the war. I guess Tom was lucky that he even had a roof over his head. As for me, in every vacation at my home, I was greeted with a five course meal, a feather bed with pillows and mink blankets. I had servants tending to my fire, dressing me up, bringing breakfast to my bed, doing every chore. But that thought did nothing for my guilt, but increase it.

Yet, he made a name for himself among the Professors. He was the highest rank holder of our batch and his scores had broken several records. Was I envious? Not really. Firstly, he was a male. Women had no business competing with men. (See Author note) Secondly, my guilt stopped me from thinking ill of him.

The least I could let him have was academic glory. But I was ambitious, perhaps not enough to qualify for Slytherin but I liked to achieve things. I was quiet but that did not stop me from being efficient at my work. And I detested that Tom did better than me. I did not hate him, no. I hated myself for not being better. There was this internal struggle within me.

So, to protect myself, I had quickly begun to pretend that he did not exist.

I never knew that I would no longer be allowed to ignore Tom. His story is so entwined with Cordelia's that no amount of force can separate the two. So, when Cordelia began to be nice to us and began joining our table for homework a few times, I began to take note of Tom again, mostly, the chemistry between the two prodigious kids of our year.

Tom had been in the circle of the purebloods, perhaps because of his prowess but his equation with Cordelia just took his relations with the other heirs on another level.

Did I fancy Tom? Not really. I mean, sure he was good looking and highly intelligent but I had spent the better part of my life at Hogwarts ignoring him. And then his equation with Cordelia, I knew that I held no candle to the Black Heiress. But even without Cordelia, I just never saw him that way.

No, I felt responsible for Tom. It was a platonic urge.

But at least with Tom, I understood what I felt. With Cordelia, it was just plainly bizarre. She made something rise within me, a rebel, a woman I rarely recognized as the lady raised by the Baron and Baroness Adler of the valley. She scared me, invigorated me and….

I had known that she was a storm; she was going to change things, change Hogwarts, and change the people within these walls.

But I had not expected to be included in that change.

* * *

The month after winter break, two-thirds of January had been chaotic. In fact, chaos was an understatement.

Cordelia's recovery and return was the talk of the school. Although, I got the impression that she would much rather forget it.

But the school was bathed in fresher, stronger wards. And the plight of the Heiress of House Black had been overshadowed by another announcement.

Tom had come out as the Lord of Slytherin. I had always thought that there was more to him than his muggleborn status. He always held himself with such…. I don't have words. He had this mysterious vibe that told people that he knew a lot more than he let on.

Slughorn had died of glee. He looked really ecstatic. For some reason, last term had seen no get together of his infamous slug club. I was pretty sure that now Tom had come out as the Heir and Cordelia as the Heiress, there would be a 'get together' of his jewels soon enough.

Too bad that he would not be able to flaunt Tom to his jewels already out of school; Tom had called out the Silence oath. Nobody in the castle could utter one word about his lordship to anyone not belonging in the castle. He did not want Hogwarts to become a target of Grindelwald because of him. I was pretty sure that some of that forethought had come from Cordelia.

Dumbledore had stomped his feet and walked out of the Great Hall in one of his tantrums at the news. No, he really had not but according to the students who could see his face, he had really wanted to. I did not know what to think.

Merrythought had looked unaffected. Dippet looked confused but amenable. The other faculty had a mixed a reaction. They were shocked but they did not want to let it on. There was also the fact that both Tom and Cordelia were really liked by all of them, well apart from Dumbledore.

Tom and Cordelia had not antagonized him further, at least not intentionally. Those two were inseparable now, even more so than last term. So much that people were beginning to refer to them as a collective. If Cordelia was involved, Tom was involved too and vice versa. Rumors about their romance and courtship were afloat.

The idea was not far-fetched, for they were spending an awful lot of time together but people were being juvenile about it. There were bets placed on their first kiss and people tried to sneakily follow them around to get evidence for their love for each other. It was really getting outrageous, especially because a few professors were in on it.

The entire school owed it to Slytherin that the news about these shenanigans had still not reached Tom and Cordelia. The house members were discreetly funneling the information or rumor mill that reached the duo.

The truth of the matter was that those closest to the duo were keenly awaiting the day both Tom and Cordelia realized that there was more to their 'friendship'. However, it did not mean that they did not disapprove of the keen interest of the school.

The second shocking thing after the break had been the call for a Hogwarts Court. It was a forgotten tradition in light of the school appointed prefects and heads' positions but apparently once the court had served as the official mediator between the Professors and the students. Despite being as old as the Founders, the system was semi-democratic.

But since Cordelia and Tom were behind it, I was not overly concerned with the structure of the government. I mean I myself came from old money and Tom and Cordelia were fair, very fair.

I mean despite facing backlash, Cordelia was adamant about having muggleborns in the court. Tom had whole heartedly backed her. And her cousins had followed.

It was clear that even though most of the court resembled the Wizangomot in making with purebloods taking maximum seats, there were representatives of half-bloods and muggleborns. Right now, the number was small but Cordelia had given her word that it would expand once muggleborns became more familiar with the wizarding politics.

I was personally not a courtier. No, that honor had gone to two fifth year muggleborns. But I was a member or Knight of Inquest. Cordelia had personally taken me aside and apologized. I was not very representative of a general muggleborn because of my affluent status. But she had hinted that I will probably be a courtier in future. I thought it was perhaps because of my father's influence in the muggle world.

She had made a face when I had voiced out the last bit. She said that I had astute observations and they may extend to politics since I was brought up in a household where the running of a country was a normal, conversational topic. That was why I might get an invite to the court a few months later.

The truth was that my father had trained me in the art of politics. I was his only child and I was doted on. I was trained to be a lady but I could hold my own against any conversation that any gentleman could come up with.

I had learned everything that my father had taught me even though I did not think I would end up using half of those skills. I preferred to remain a lady though (See Author Note).

But I am losing the track. The court was historical not just because it was the first in a couple of centuries but because instead of one ruler, there were two. Tom and Cordelia were leading it together. Both had equal authority. For two people to share the metaphorical throne, people were left wondering.

Tom had apparently been Slytherin King for quite some time and he had made room for Cordelia in running the court when she had displayed aptitude. Now, they wanted to expand the base. This bit was not well known. I only knew this because Cordelia had insisted that I share a few meals with her and spend more time with her. We were friends now, after all. Her trust in me still shone.

But unlike me, Hogwarts was filled with gossip mongers. King and Queen of Hogwarts could have no moment of piece. Those weren't the official titles but the use had still spread like fire. Cordelia called her and Tom the Ruling Council. But to be honest, she was the only one who used it. Tom was above these small bits (He simply called them 'us' or 'we' and people understood) and the rest of the courtiers agreed that King and Queen was way easier than the mouthful Cordelia had put forth.

There was a hierarchy even among the courtiers (different than the one between the courtiers and Knights in general) but it was unspoken.

Needless to say, it was natural that Tom and Cordelia had their preferences. For instance, Cordelia was much closer to Anastius Zabini than she was to Heir Zabini or Heir Nott.

Tom and Cordelia were close friends with some of the court members and they were the inner circle. That's what Tom called it.

Admittedly, I had been spending quite a lot of time with him too because as I said, he and Cordelia were practically inseparable.

I think Tom had taken the attack on Cordelia very personally. Even when he was not close to her in proximity, he always had his hawk like gaze on her. He had gotten very protective and stringent on security.

But he had been nothing but polite and courteous to me. In fact, he was a very good conversationalist when he found a topic of interest and a person who could stimulate his interest, which honestly, was mostly Cordelia.

But he got on well with Abraxas Malfoy, Dorea Black and surprisingly Charles Potter. In fact, he seemed to prefer them over Orion and Alphard at the very least.

Since I am mentioning Malfoy, I should perhaps shed a little light on the note that he had sent to me over the break.  
I was grateful, really grateful and I had wanted to express it. A note back could have caused trouble so I had not written. Oh, who am I fooling? I was a craven; I did not know what to write to a young pureblood heir that I had never spoken to. I was a maiden and I was not sure if I could write directly. I was a little shy, I guess. So, I just skipped it. I am fairly sure that it was blatantly rude of me to ignore it like that, but I did not think that I mattered in the scheme of things for the Malfoy heir and I was sure that by the time we would return from the break, he would have forgotten about me.

And I had been curious, so very curious about why he had bothered to write to me. Being a Ravenclaw, it just came in heaps but I squished in my melodrama of protocol and what not's.

And things had been fine upon return, simply because as I predicted, I did not catch his eye.

 _But one day I was sitting with Cordelia and he plopped down. He had greeted me with a polite, "Ms. Adler," and went on to speak to Cordelia briefly before kissing her cheek and leaving with a nod towards me._

 _Why did he care about my existence? The confusion had shone on my face because Dorea had chimed from the other side, "He is trying to be more polite to muggleborns."_

 _"_ _Yeah, he has never interacted with them before so he is not quite sure how to behave like they are normal people without offending them. He was quite confused. In wizarding pureblood world, men usually don't talk to women they are not related to or courting; but it is stupid. So, I asked men to engage women in conversations after making their platonic intentions clear but so far, not much luck. " Cordelia also poked fun._

 _She did not know anything about the note._

 _It was my little secret; tucked in the pages of my journal, the calligraphy of Heir Malfoy was safe._

 _"_ _When did you ask him to do that?" I asked, curiosity laced in my mind at the prospect of an explanation._

 _"_ _After the first court meeting. Anastius tried to engage in conversation but only ended up flirting and offending one Hufflepuff with his innuendoes. I swear, those Zabinis. I mean Cassius just about drools at my sight." Cordelia replied with a shake of her head._

 _'_ _After the court meeting' still did not explain the note._

 _"_ _I mean how uncouth can he be?" Dorea also chimed her bit about Cassius, distracting me temporarily from my quest._

 _I wrinkled my nose in disgust, remembering his salivating expressions._

I had fit in nicely with the Black sisters. Lucretia was really kind and Dorea was very welcoming. Walburga had first looked at like I smelled like an ogre but she, at least, no longer made faces at my presence.

 _"_ _Work in progress." Lucretia had whispered apologetically to me._

And I did not mind, I could not expect the blood purists to change their attitude in one day; it would be just a superficial change.

But I was glad and proud of Cordelia; she had made a person like Walburga consider muggleborns as part of Hogwarts and not a waste space.

That told so much about the sway she held for the masses.

Tom was no less. His mere eyes could make people squabble. I wondered how I had missed his control for over 4 years but I guess, he was that good at keeping up appearances. But there were differences in the way they handled things.

Cordelia was softer, gentler. I guess that came with being a woman. We could not be as calculated as men. We were taught to care, nurture. (See Author note)

That is not to say that Cordelia was a foolish sentimentalist.

The way she brutally took down heirs in verbal battles was evidence alone that she had the ability to be as cold as the Slytherin facade was. She just chose to be smiling and cheery.

And Tom could be tender. Tom was charming and nice in public but I was not referring to that tenderness. I was referring to his real feelings not the act. I had seen it first hand, the way his eyes softened around Cordelia, affection surged in them at her mere sight.

And I think it was not just limited to Cordelia. Sure, he was the most affectionate towards her but he was gentler with Dorea and Abraxas and even Alphard. He got annoyed by the last one but he was patient like I had not seen him with a lot of people. In fact, I would say that Charles Potter and Abraxas Malfoy were two of his closest friends. I am not counting Cordelia because she meant more to him, clearly.

The court and other departments had found a rhythm. Inter House interaction was at its best since ages. All things were not at their best but they were getting better because apart from the school rules, the King and Queen had laid down laws too.

The most stellar rule was no discrimination on the basis of anything, specifically Hogwarts houses, blood and gender. The gender bit of the law had been difficult to understand and I was sure that I was not the only one struggling with it. Right now, the elaboration of the law was simple: Do not underestimate women. They would be a part of the court and the departments and you will not give them lighter work or mundane work just because they were women. "We value capability and we will respect willingness or the lack of it." Tom had said in his soft but form voice, eyeing the crowd with a challenge.

Because honestly, there were challenges. People liked Cordelia as a person, I mean they might want to court her or be a fan of how she flew or whatever but a lot of men did not understand how a woman could be equipped to lead the court.

It had taken some convincing and a lot of monologues from Tom and Cordelia and a lot of debates before every man had stumped and accepted that Cordelia was very astute in politics and very powerful with her magical power.

I saw firsthand how adept she was at healing when I saw her heal the men she had cursed in her duels without breaking a sweat.

There was at least one female from every house in the court and all of them had graciously accepted their roles. Some had been startled by the offer but they had all taken up the roles with grace once Tom and Cordelia talked to them personally.

The court and the honor duels had gotten some flak from the Professors. For instance, Dumbledore insisted that what Tom and Cordelia were doing was barbaric.

But the truth was that men always chose to duel instead of another option: intellectual test. They claimed that she had an unfair advantage because she was smart.

 _"_ _Isn't that the point of the intellectual test?" Abraxas Malfoy had raised his brows._

Most of them had chosen not to answer that. Only Cassius Zabini had chosen to take the intellectual test. He had been so sure that with his Ravenclaw roots and higher year, he would be able to beat her but it was for naught. But he had not been malicious in his comments; lecherous in his gestures a few times after that but not really malicious (See Author Note).

It was not just men but women too questioned Cordelia's capabilities, Aimee Parkinson for one. Renatus Lestrange had been her champion in an honor duel against Cordelia because women do not fight duels. It was not proper.

Tom had merely raised a brow and given Renatus a look.

Lestrange had strangely been quiet in the beginning of this year; almost subdued. But his ire had risen when he was not included in the court.

"It would put the sanctity of the court in jeopardy if we include you." Cordelia had said with a classic beam.

He had fought Cordelia twice because strangely, Cordelia had not wanted Tom to fight the duel when Lestrange challenged the authority of the court.

 _"_ _He should just be grateful that he is alive." Tom had muttered very lightly about it later in the library, his eyes getting dark as he glanced protectively and heatedly at Cordelia._

Since I knew of his murderous intentions from before the break, I was able to piece things together over the confused state of the rest of the table.

Cordelia seemed unconcerned by Tom's comment. That and her reluctance to let Tom and Lestrange duel led me to indicate that she knew about Tom's murderous intentions too. She did not seem to mind the intentions because she did not reprimand him like she usually did when she found something in bad taste. But I guess she did not want a public altercation between them either. It would have certainly been a big hit to diplomacy if Tom damaged Heir Lestrange permanently.

The Aurors had been unable to find anything. Hogwarts had just too many magical signatures and even though a trace of the signature of the stunning spell had been found on Cordelia, it had been insufficient to pinpoint a person.

All the Blacks and their other cousins had come from home laced in protective enchantments. The Floo fireplaces had been opened to students mandatorily so that they could contact Auror Department on their own without relying on the Professors.

Dumbledore had gotten a sort of notice. He was being closely watched by the School board of Governors. The Blacks had blamed him for the attack. The claim was that if he had not been so daft about the attack on Charles Potter, the perpetrator would not have had the chance to attack Cordelia.

Most of the school agreed. Gryffindor was sort of divided between those who thought Dumbledore had made a silly mistake and those who felt that his views were downright dangerous to the security of the students. There were a few people in between too.

Minerva Mcgonagall was among the conflicted ones. She was sort of Dumbeldore's Protégé, what with wanting to pursue mastery in Transfiguration.

But she was close friends with Charles Potter and as someone who cared about his wellbeing; her views and loyalty were a bit divided.

She agreed that the attack on Charles and Cordelia had been nefarious but she vouched that Dumbeldore was just doing his best.

In fact, she had turned down the offer to join the Hogwarts Court; she had cited that in light of NEWTs and her Quidditch captaincy, she could not take more responsibilities.

Cordelia and Tom had not been disappointed. In fact, the glint in Cordelia's eyes told me that she had been expecting the rejection.

Charles Potter had not been happy with Minerva. They had in fact, exchanged a few heated words since then. Cordelia had to intervene and reprimand Potter for imposing his choices on Mcgonagall before the situation got out of hand.

 _"_ _But she is making the wrong choice!" Charles had sputtered indignantly._

 _"_ _Why do you think you know better?" Cordelia had asked him._

 _"_ _Because…" Charles had not completed his uncollected thoughts that Cordelia had interrupted, "Because you are a man."_

 _"_ _No…"He vehemently denied._

 _"_ _Charlie, you cannot make choices for her. She might be your friend but she has not extended that right to you. You can negotiate or convince her once or twice but when she repeatedly says no, you should just drop it. She is smart. She can make wise choices for herself. Politics is not for everyone, not just because of their capability but also because of their personal inclinations. She can do good via politics but she can do good through other avenues too. What makes your choices better than hers? It is very relative."_

Charles had left Minerva alone after that. That incident had also resulted in another incidental thing; Cordelia now had the grudging respect of Minerva Mcgonagall.

Also, when others had seen that Tom and Cordelia were not being forceful about joining or favoring the court, people had been more open to the idea of a court in place.

 _"_ _It is very simple. People do not like being forced into things. They would have been against it by default. By giving them a choice, we are making them more open to this idea." Tom had shrugged when Orion had expressed his confusion._

 _"_ _And we are not trying to be dictators Oree. Yes, you might call us King and queen (even though I disapprove of the titles) and we expect a certain decorum and following of rules but it is not meant to be oppressive. In fact, the idea of a court is to be more inclusive." Cordelia had gently informed._

Some people had questioned Tom's integrity on the muggleborn and mixed blood issue.

Some radical Slytherins and purebloods from other houses had accused him of maligning Slytherin's legacy by allowing mixed blood in the court, in Hogwarts.

Some skeptical people from other houses had refused to believe that Slytherins could want inclusivity for the sake of inclusivity. They thought there was some underhanded purpose or intention behind the whole set up.

The former were corrected and shot down by Tom and Cordelia. If Tom was besmirching Slytherin's name, then the Slytherin magic would not have accepted him.

That was the first time I saw the totem of any family. And the Slytherin totem was huge and intimidating. It was some sort of a really large snake with really big fangs.

It had come out of nowhere and after hissing threateningly at the complainers, it had made its way to Tom and had coiled itself protectively, but not just around him, around Cordelia as well.

For the latter skeptics, they had just produced the public archives of the House of Slytherin from the library. Apparently, Slytherin did have muggleborns and half-bloods. (See Author note 2). Turns out that Merlin himself had been a muggleborn, and let me just say that he was the most prized jewel of the Slytherin alumni.

 _"_ _So, we are just honoring what was forgotten." Tom said._

 _"_ _But despite the selective 'history' that we know, we value inclusivity. There were places when Slytherin went wrong, just as any other founder. The mistakes of others are not just as highly publicized as others. We are also trying to correct the past faults in running of our school and celebrating certain new things. It will be our intention and effort to bridge the gaps created by years of discord so that we can all come together as one institution and learn the best ways to practice magic. But schools are not just for learning, we build communities, we forge friendships, there is learning and engagement beyond academics. We hope that in years to come, we can rise about the differences in the houses and work together because truly, if a Griff, Slyth, Puff and Raven work together, they will be an unstoppable team. We all need moderation, something to balance us out. We hope we can achieve this camaraderie. Of course, you can see it and be a part of it over time. " Cordelia had addressed the crowd._

Not everybody had believed her, but a lot of people did, a lot of people wanted to, and at least a lot of people left the meeting much less skeptical than they had arrived.

Both she and Tom had a certain command over people. Maybe it was their charisma, but when both of them talked, people listened.

And the thing was when they talked; things suddenly seemed more sensible or logical. They just had this way with words.

Anyway, the first task that the court had taken up officially was the change in faculty for History.

Apparently, the court of Slytherin had already made a lot of progress and just about finished the work but there were some fine tunings left and the school court took that up.

Binns was not the only one under scrutiny. There was a feedback system for classes and Professors, from everything related to course content to their biases to grading preferences, everything was being surveyed and recorded.

Discreetly, of course. Cordelia did not want to lose the favor of most Professors just yet.

When I recall my days, all I remember is bustling and busy schedules as everyone tried to squabble to their court departments, as everyone poured in more and more ideas to make this a success.

I was not the only one inspired at the thought of change.

And I was not the only one who was excited or scared or almost giddy at the start of my days.

"Eve, you alright?" A voice interrupted my train of thoughts.

I turned to look at the person sitting across me. Cordelia's slightly concerned face stood out in the backdrop of the shelves of library.

"I am fine." I said automatically.

"Are you sure? You have been staring off the space for quite some while. Somebody say anything." It was the silky voice of Tom that responded to me.

 _When did he join us?_

"I…" I began.

I was saved from saying anything as Alphard took the seat beside me and took over the conversation, "Hear what? I have heard that Dumbledore….." He was very enthusiastic.

And just like that, Tom and Cordelia's attention wavered.

A loud bang startled me out of my thoughts again. Dorea had hit Alphard on the back of his head loudly, "You interrupted them. They were talking to Evelyn."

"Ouch…I was…I was just…" Alphard began rubbing his head almost petulantly.

"Being overenthusiastic," Tom finished for him with a raised eyebrow and a slight smile.

"C'mon Affy, I have told you to not eat too much candy. You are worse than a toddler on sugar rush at times." Cordelia reprimanded softly.

"I only ate 10…" He mumbled as Cordelia rolled her eyes.

"Enough of your antics. Apologize to Evelyn, you can speak to Tom and Cordelia in the evening in common room." Dorea strictly instructed.

"Jormy scares me. I swear she does not like me." He mumbled again.

"She scares everybody. That is like her go to thing to entertain herself. You should get along well with her Affy, she bothers people for fun." Cordelia said pointedly.

"She is my familiar…" Tom lightly informed me when he saw my confusion.

"We have not brought her out of the Slytherin common room because of her temperament and people's reaction. Let them get used to Tom's lordship before we drop any more surprises…" Cordelia said in amusement. I just shook my head with a smile.

"I apologize Evelyn. I was out of line…" Alphard said to me abruptly and I froze. I swear that I can't deal with men giving me any attention. God knows that it took a week before I responded normally to Tom.

"It is no matter." I managed to produce without stuttering. But I know my flustered self was on full display to Tom and Cordelia.

"Now leave, we will see you later. Dory, tell Charlie that if he values his safety, he will return my notes on the Protean Charm by tonight or I am sending Anastius after him. He can irritate Charlie to death for the next week and see how annoying life can get when people do not listen to you because Anastius won't stop when Charlie asks him to." Cordelia said.

"He has not returned them?" Dorea exclaimed.

"No…" Tom laughed, "In fact, he has been using Sebastian to divert Lia's attention from him. The tactic failed but they tried."

"It is so annoying. I am trying to improve communication mirrors using runes and I need to use a variation of that charm to create a link. I am missing something and I know it is in my notes and he is being an annoying prick and…." Cordelia began complaining without taking a breath.

"OUT…"

I jumped and looked to my left side. There by the shelf was our doom.

Madame's Hopkirk's tight set of lips bristled out in rage as she looked at all of us.

Her glaring eyes looked frightening from behind her glasses as she glared at no one in particular.

We, wordlessly got up, Tom waved his wand about as his and Cordelia's books collected in a neat organized pile mid air and began following the couple out of the library through a mix of a levitation and hovering charm.

As soon as we were out, we sorta took a breather.

"Sorry, she hates me." Cordelia said apologetically to all of us.

"That is just because you corrected her about the editions of the Magical theory books and the rattles off the laws of library from Hogwarts charter to make your point about allowance of beverages in library. Not your fault! " Tom consoled her, rubbing her back gently.

Alphard had already made his way somewhere way ahead, away from the four of us.

'But she kicked us out. She is so mean." Cordelia made a pitiful face, 'That is not fair. I was not even that loud. I was whisper yelling."

Tom gently pulled her back in his arms, placed a kiss on her hair and said lightly, "We can start looking for her replacement."

"We can't just fire people who do not like us." Cordelia mumbled.

'Who says we can't?" Tom shrugged with superiority.

Dorea stood beside me, took a heavy sigh with a regretful expression and said very softly, "One of these days, I hope these two recognize their equation. They are just adorable together."

I gave Dorea a look.

"An elder sister can hope, Evelyn. Isn't their affection for each other really obvious?" She looked at me hopefully.

'It is…I just do not think it is my business…" I trailed off lightly.

Dorea smiled at my protest, "Cordelia told me how proper you insist on being."

I opened my mouth to protest again but Dorea beat my speech, "C'mon, those two are going to take their sweet time. Let us give them privacy and head down to Great hall. It is almost time for dinner."

I silently followed her lead.

* * *

 **Author Note 1:**

 **These opinions are not true and do not reflect my views. Evelyn is a woman based in 1940s and as such has set views about how men and women should behave. This particular characterization is to reiterate the fact that women can act as agents of patriarchy as well, and sometimes they do it unwittingly without realization of their deeds.**

 **Truly, women can compete with men. Women deserve equality and equity. Men do not need to be masculine. Being lecherous in not the same as being malicious, but if your advances are unwelcome, it is as bad as malice. Men can nurture too and women can be cold. Yada Yada...Go Feminism!  
**

* * *

 **Author Note 2: My fic ignores the song of Sorting Hat in HP's 5** **th** **year where the Hat says that Slytherin valued pureblood ancestry. As per my fic's universe, the requirements for Slytherin are cunning, resourcefulness and ambition and not the blood. The house currently lacks muggleborns because of the stigma and false propaganda about the house. They fear Slytherin so much that Hat doesn't put them there.**

* * *

 **Author Note 3:**

 **Dear Readers,**

 **My Heartiest apologies, for taking a month longer than I promised.**

 **Thank you for your support to the fic and me personally, in my online absence. The reviews were reminders of all the good things in life.**

 **As some of you guessed in your recent reviews, I am not doing very well with my migraines. I am certainly better, but as I am very aware of my migraine cycle, the better days usually don't last that long. It is a chronic, incurable but benign disorder. It is certainly treatable, but it is usually very hit and trial than actual therapeutic effects. I am not gonna die but I am in a lot of pain on most days.**

 **Which is why I got delayed in my update schedule. I am sorry, again.**

 **As this chapter signals, I am back on as a writer. However, there is a little catch. I cannot update as frequently as I did. This story is very important to me and I would like to complete it on my own terms with some quality work. That is no longer possible with the weekly schedule. I have decided to update monthly between 20 to 25** **th** **of the month. This schedule might get revisited if I am able to write more quickly or feel better, whichever. But until then, this is , the average chapter length will increase slightly to 5000-7000 words instead of the usual 4000.  
**

 **Until Next Time,**

 **Katoptris**

 **(THIS WILL BE COMPLETED, rest assured.)**

 **Please review. :) Pretty Please!  
**


	34. Chapter 28: Erin

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances and nineteen years later. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Parseltongue"**

* * *

 **Chapter 28**

 **Erin  
**

 **Cordelia's POV**

Sneaking out at night has always been one of my things. In my 6 years at Hogwarts, I hardly recall a year when I actually did not violate the curfew. In fact, I violated it in my in absentia 7th year as well when I had sneaked into the Ravenclaw tower with Luna.

And it is not like that my entrance into the magical world or Hogwarts had corrupted me.

I have been sneaking out at night since I gained consciousness. With the Dursleys, I had to sneak out at night to get myself food from the fridge in the dead of the night for pretty much all of my life with them. Well, except for days when my body was so broken or tired that I could not move.

It did not end with the battle and war. I sneaked out of the Burrow to walk under the stars, away from the mixed misery and elation of the house. I sneaked out of Grimmauld place to escape the darkness of the house and the constant reminder of Sirius. Then, when I inadvertently moved to Malfoy manor for some time, I ran out in the gardens to escape the memory of Hermione's screams as Bellatrix tortured her.

I never had a stable home for the next 5 to 6ish years, dividing my time between the Slytherin estate, whatever apartment I had rented in whatever place where I was learning about magic or my tent. Sometimes I stopped by the Malfoy manor and the Burrow but I never usually stayed for more than a couple of days.

But I had always sneaked out, to pubs for satiating my need for alcohol, to rivers, bridges and lakes so that I could stare into the vast nothingness, to the roofs of skyscrapers so that I could see the world and myself becoming smaller and smaller. But mostly, I always turned to the grave of Tom Riddle. I sneaked out from the protective gaze of Salazar because he informed Sid of my every move even when Sid did not snoop.

So yeah, it has been my thing and when I don't do my thing for a long time, I get edgy I guess.

And I could not sneak out for the past month because Tom would not have been able to sleep without me. It had been nice at the Black manor and before that because I sneaked into his room every night. But now that I lived in the Slytherin chambers (he had been very insistent), there was no more scope for sneaking away.

I am not complaining really! Actually sleeping every night after years felt great. Like really great. And sleeping next to Tom was bliss. The warmth of being near him, that feeling, it was incomparable.

But as I said I get edgy….

So tonight, I had used my time turner (because I could not leave Tom alone in the bed, he would have woken up) and now my one body was sneaking out of Hogwarts ground towards the apparition point.

And no one could catch me. I had my invisibility cloak. I had no trace over me. I was free to do whatever I wanted.

So, you might ask me what the issue at hand was….

The issue was that I remembered my history of sneaking out.

Since, I had deftly blocked my memories and emotions (and I still did not feel emotions, I just remembered bare facts), so I should not recall any of it.

I knew it. I should not have stopped Tom from torturing Renatus further. His stupid stupefy and that magical coma had haywire-d my magical mental shields that had appeared during the blocking ritual.

Now, they were so problematic that I could not undo them and cast them again. But they were not functioning as I wanted them to.

So, I was stuck. I gritted my teeth.

It was like that there were cracks in the shields and now the shields could only break on their own. And when they will break, I will in for an onslaught. Maybe, I would black out like I used to with the memories of earlier filli magicae.

All I could do was guess because truly, no mind art could block so many memories together, I had used sheer magic to bind them. It was an impulsive move. That is what Sid would have called it.

I had literally barred my memories associated with the people around me.

I still remembered them and used them in daily life, like I knew spells, I knew facts about things…

It was just a complicated mumbo jumbo that I had done with intentions and not actual approved rituals.

But it was done, and because it was broken, I was remembering my memories like reading an encyclopedia. Tons of information, not just about spells or things, but about people and my days.

I remembered Hermione's screams but my horror was absent. I remembered my drunkard days but the misery was absent. I remembered my tea parties with Narcissa and Andy, but I just had no emotions attached to them.

And they came and disappeared like wind. One second I would remember something and the next I would forget… like a bad sci-fi film or something. I had watched my share of them with…

See…I forgot.

Anyway, so enough about something impulsive that I did! Because honestly, that is a casual occurrence; I had not been the Gryffindor poster child for nothing.

Let us get to the matter at hand; the real reason that I was sneaking out in the middle of the night. And no, edgy is not the only explanation.

So, one of the organizing systems that I had made with my friends while I had planned my trunk was reminders of important days in history; Muggle and magical both.

Like 2 days ago, Hitler gave some milestone speech in Berlin. Can you imagine? Hitler? I had just heard horror stories about him in Muggle School and now he was living, breathing in the same air as me, just few countries away.

Honestly, I was very tempted to butt in the muggle war. There were still 3 years left to its end. Pearl Harbor, Atom bombs, the concentration camps of Nazis; all of them accounted for plenty of losses of life. Losses I could prevent.

But the thing was that I could not risk it. Even though I am impulsive, I could not risk changing the outcome of the world war. It would not end well. I mean what if my interference installed a regime of sycophant muggles who discovered magicals and destroyed us.

That was a very possible possibility.

So, see I will explain it as best as I can without diagrams.

There is a network of events and people that influence the outcome of situations that are relevant for a certain group of people. You know, like concurrent and overlapping circles. One circle for the world war, one smaller circle for Britain, one even smaller circle for Magical Britain; that is how you can picture it I guess and they meet with each other at places.

So intervening in the larger muggle circle, especially in events of a world war meant that I interfered in the path of the biggest circle; and that would impact the whole world, muggle and magical alike.

The circle that represented magical affairs, and only that of Hogwarts and children of British world, was a smaller circle. It was a circle that I could manage even if things went out of hand or got unpredictable.

So, I had been instructed to stick to it. By whom? I am not sure; but it sounds like a very crucial piece of commandments that I had rote memorized before time travelling.

So, that meant no interfering with Grindelwald, not butting in the British Ministry (and interfering in the circle of magical Britain) until my place was solidified at least by Tom's side and a lot more….

But the thing is that sneaking out is not my only thing. Not following rules is one of my things too.

So, what was I doing? Breaking that commandment of course.

I had done calculations see.

So, the circle of Grindelwald and his influence did not exist independently. No circle existed in isolation. It overlapped with some other circles, most notably with the world war. Now that overlap was out of control, it had its own mediation. I was going to stay away from that.

Besides those giant overlaps, there were smaller overlaps, of smaller events, raids, political threats, less significant people, bribery, etc.

Now interfering with those would affect the circle, but the effect would be so minute for the larger circle for Grindelwald, that there would be negligible difference in how things will unfold.

And I was planning to do just that.

See, Grindelwald had stayed away from Britain, away from Dumbeldore. But it does not mean that he had done nothing on the British soil. There were spies and a thread of information and all sort of war stuff.

No, I was not planning on nabbing a spy. That was too attention seeking.

I was planning on stopping something that had happened on accident.

It was not part of most records, no newspaper had published it. Only one department of Ministry of Magic had reported a resource missing the next day.

Considering, that the department was Department of Mysteries, what the resource was known only to a few.

So, how did I get to know about it?

You see, Narcissa was a storehouse of information. She, as a docile daughter and later as a docile wife, had been very demure but highly observant. Over the years, she had noted away priceless information as people around her did not even realize what they were giving away.

But Narcissa had not been born in 1942. I mean Cygnus is a baby right now, c'mon. He can't father his third daughter when he is so much away from adolescence.

She had stumbled upon this information in one of the death eater meetings in her days of youth from the mouth of none other than Dolohov and Pierce Nott, who had extracted the information through mind arts from a poor elder unspeakable.

Apparently, Department of Mysteries had an archive or more aptly, a storehouse that stored a wealth of unclaimed ancient stuff including books, wands, other artifacts….

Now only certain of them were on display, like the veil because they were actively being studied, but everything else was just locked away, without any purpose.

They just happened to have a bottle full of Phoenix tears which a newbie would pick up for testing so that they could replicate its healing properties.

 _"There is always one person in every generation who dreams of doing that." Narcissa's patronizing sigh still makes me catch my stomach from laughing too hard._

But basically, he took out the bottle of the immediate headquarters against the rules (needless to say, he was fired when it was found out). He was later mugged by a low life who worked for Grindelwald's spy and eventually, the bottle landed with Grindelwald.

So, from what my later research told me, Grindelwald never used it.

He was never bodily injured to use it except the final battle with Dumbledore where he did not take it. He had no followers that he valued enough to spend the tears on. So, the bottle landed years later with Dumbledore, who also did not need it, considering that Fawkes had appeared by his side as he defeated Grindelwald.

So, basically the bottle started no important historical trajectory in my timeline. Meaning I could steal it and it would not have an effect on anything.

Frankly, I did not need Phoenix tears. I had once been married to a Naga whose island had dozens of phoenixes. I had plenty of tears in my ingredient store.

I was only stealing it because I planned to bodily wound Grindelwald in a couple of years. And the thing was that because the timelines diverged in light of the presence of Cordelia, Grindelwald could possibly use the tears to his benefit, AGAINST ME or worse, TOM.

So, well, yes, I planned to intervene and put the bottle back where it belonged; the archive of Department of Mysteries. And hopefully obliviate the rookie about its existence (Technically, I was saving his job but I was going to flag him in my records for future reference.)

Simple!

See, I had to start small. Despite my rigorous study about Grindelwald, his methods and politics of wizarding Britain in 1940s (For instance, we had a capable Minister!), I was still a novice in this time.

I could probably brave the catastrophe of a bigger meddling as a novice too. I mean, I would escape unscathed if Grindelwald targeted Britain. I had faced worse when I had access to like a tenth of my power. (Cue: Read Voldemort)

But I could not say the same for everybody. And what right I had to unleash the bad on the world, when I possibly could not protect them with a solid guarantee.

So, I needed to grow, ensure that I had a system in place where innocents could lay low and then engage Grindelwald. At least, that was the plan.

Or I do everything clandestinely, so that Grindelwald does not link me and Britain together.

I was weighing both options. Let's see. For now, I had a stupid wizard to nab.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

The mission had been a success. I had returned normally and no one had been any wiser.

I felt bad for keeping things from Tom but the thing was that our relationship was still in a beginner's stage. I intended to tell him about the time travel and everything, just not right now.

I did not think that Tom was still ready to be confronted with the fact that he was a megalomaniac dark lord, or that he was serpentine (He is a little vain about his looks) or that he had hurt me in my timeline.

His trust and security in our relationship were still a bit wobbly and I understood where it came from. But I did not think that he would believe me when I said that I loved him despite whatever Voldemort had done to me in my life as Juniper.

The disbelief was natural and I had gone over it multiple times when I had confided my plans (to travel back in time to love Tom Riddle) to my friends back home. While they had been outraged, Tom would be devastated. He would not want to lose me or at least I hoped that he wouldn't.

Or he could be outraged just like them, not at the fact that I forgave him or did not hold him responsible for majority of the shit but at the fact that I had hidden so much from him.

I knew Tom loved me, but the love was but in a very early stage. It would not be able to bear such a strong test just yet.

So, I had to wait.

Another thing complicating my confiding in him was the situation of my memories. Normally, I would have undone them to talk Tom through them or something. Now, I had to wait until the barriers broke by themselves.

But I had learned as Juniper to enjoy the present. The good moments had been so rare in my life that I had wanted to live to the fullest whenever I was happy.

And I was currently very happy.

Why?

Well, that is what lazy weekends with your boyfriend do. Make you feel warm and giddy down to your every pore.

I and Tom had been quite busy in the setting up of court in the past month. While my cousins whined about the busy days and having to answer queries all day, I and Tom's days were not any less exhausting and filled.

I had dueled around a dozen men in the past month. Some of them, multiple times. There were some people who did not show open hostility but questioned and cross-questioned I and Tom on every single rule of Hogwarts and the logic of the laws we had laid down. So, we talked and argued, a lot.

It was invigorating to be challenged in that way, but also very exhausting.

I was tempted to punch people in their faces. Tom nearly cast hexes in annoyance. Actually, he did send hexes to people in Great Hall very discreetly but because I made a face about bodily damage, he just never strayed from stinging hexes.

To be honest, I did give a right hook to Renatus on the pretense of losing my balance when I stunned him in the second duel. It broke his nose very badly, so much that Madam Underhill had to vanish the pieces and regrow it with skelegrow.

I have never felt so satisfied in my life by doing something this mean.

Nobody agreed with me when I said that it was mean though. Orion, Anastius, Alphard, Sebastian, Charlie and Abraxas were busy guffawing to even listen to my reasoning.

Dorea and Lucretia were smiling ear to ear. Eve looked a little scared for me. Yes, I agreed that the last time I had attacked Renatus, it had not gone down well for me but this time, I was prepared.  
Even Walburga had smiling eyes that contained all the mirth behind the veil of decorum.

"That was hilarious." Tom had whispered, smiled angelically and pressed his lips in my hair. That gesture was so common between the two of us now that none of my cousins even batted an eyelash.

Yes, none of them knew that Tom and I had officially begun our relationship. It was just between the two of us right now. It is not like that we were actively hiding it or something. The thing was we had not realized that we had been physically affectionate towards each other from very long. Except that now, we ravished each other's lips often and coincidentally, we were never spotted by anyone because it usually happened in the Slytherin Chambers.

But I could not say that the secrecy made me unhappy. It was nice, I guess. I know despite the absence of rumors reaching my ears that people were speculating about our relationship. Actually, the lack of rumors gave it away. There was no way that there was no gossip about how I and Tom treated each other.

Having people closely observe our relation would not have done us good. I was sure that our relationship could stand scrutiny but I would rather not delve in it until it was well, necessary.

" **These two miscreants are mewing all over the room. They won't stay quiet…"** Jormy's incessant hissing shook me out of my reverie.

Cordelia looked above to Tom's face. She currently lay in her balcony on top of a mattress using Tom's lap as a pillow, while he read one of the journals of the Slytherin family that they had taken out of the vaults during the break. His fingers were currently twirled in her hair and playing with them.

" **They are babies Jormy. Of course, they are making noises and playing with each other. I told you that you can go and sleep in one of the other bedrooms. The mattresses are equally comfy.** " Tom told the snake with a sigh.

" **You are ungrateful, master. For my loyalty….** " Jormy began hissing again.

" **Stop being melodramatic Jormy. You know you like it when they make noises. What were you calling I and Tom the other day, quiet as mice and incredibly dull. I thought you would be happy that Nyx and Lux add some resonance to your life.** " Cordelia muttered lazily, snuggling into Tom's abdomen.

Jormy gave both of them a really ugly look.

" **Do you want me to get you dropped in the forest so that you can hunt rabbits**?" Cordelia asked the beast pointedly.

" **I will have to go hunting into the filthy forest to get my food. What kind of caretakers are you?** " Jormy took out her tongue and moved it around in displeasure.

" **The kind that want you to move your dainty body around and get some exercise.** " Tom said with faint amusement.

" **Those mewling brats are better than you too. You just want to eat each other's faces**." Jormy turned around and began slithering away from them.

Tom and Cordelia could not keep it in. They burst into loud laughter at the snake's antics.

"Well, I do agree with her. I do like to 'eat' your face." Tom said in amusement, his eyes sparkling.

Tom had gotten much, much happier and lighter. He smiled more, he indulged people more.

"It is a good thing people cannot understand her. Eating each other's faces….Priceless!" Cordelia had tears of joy running down her cheeks.

She felt Tom's lips press and linger against the center of her forehead and she basked in it, basked in his warmth and affection. She slowly raised her hands and as her fingers knotted in his hair, she lifted her face a little and Tom's lips travelled down from her forehead to her lips, and pressed against them firmly.

The magic in their heir and Lord rings thrummed as the totems of the two families appeared and watched the proceedings with glowing satisfaction, disappearing into mist before either Cordelia or Tom registered their presence.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

"You resemble Burga quite nicely right now Tom. There is no need to be so scandalized, honestly." Cordelia rolled her eyes at Tom.

"A girls' bathroom!" Tom said slowly as if he had trouble comprehending, then he jerked his head to look at her and snapped, "That is where the entrance of the chamber is." He was pointing towards the sink with disbelief and a little irritation.

Cordelia waved her wand, erecting a silencing ward, "Say it a little more loudly, Dumbledore did not hear it yet that the King and Queen are attempting to open the Chamber that promises to purge out muggleborns. As if he needs more reasons to hate us…"

Tom looked a little chastised and almost whined, "But it is a sacrilege."

Cordelia hid her laugh behind her palms as she looked at Tom's disdain filled expressions.

"Well, at first when I saw this before the break, I had thought that it was just another passageway but you have been reading the journals and well, this fits rather nicely with all the factors listed in the journal to find the Chamber." Cordelia shrugged.

"It does, but it was supposed to be a trapdoor." Tom said logically, lost in his thoughts.

'Well, plumbing did not exist in Salazar's time. It is a muggle invention. Wizards adapted it in 16th or 17th century, depending on well, their demeanors. I am sure that someone who knew about the existence of the Chamber, most likely a Gaunt, influenced and hid the entrance of chamber through plumbing, lest it be accidentally discovered in the process of the construction. Would have included a lot of bribery and memory modification spells but it was certainly doable. Ministry and board of Governors are not immune against corruption." Cordelia said thoughtfully.

"Well, this just proves that Gaunts were unhinged. A bathroom!" Tom was still in disbelief.

"I disagree. It is ingenious and quite cunning actually. Nobody would think of looking for the grand chamber in a bathroom. And Gaunts were probably very cocky and did not think that the family could fall out of favor or anything, so in a roundabout way, it makes sense." Cordelia shook her head and regarded Tom.

"Why do you have to be so logical?" Tom said sarcastically.

"Well, it is a learned trait. Honestly, sarcasm comes easier to me than logic." She honestly said.

'You did not have to answer that." Tom said a little sheepishly.

Cordelia just raised her brow at him, but her expression softened. She took his hand and gave it a squeeze which he returned.

She knew that despite everything, his lord status and stuff, Tom was still nervous.

"You do it?" She asked.

He nodded and tilted his head to eye the carving of the serpent on the tap, " **OPEN."**

When the sinks began moving along with the loud noises, both of them reflexively took a step back. Tom also pulled her closer as the hole came into view, almost molding her body into his, "Don't you dare fall," He whispered, trying to reign in his fear.

She leaned into him, nuzzling his neck in comfort, gripping him tightly, showing that she did not intend to fall.

Slowly, Tom' stiff posture relaxed as he took comfort in the fact that she understood his fear.

Tom wrinkled his nose at the visible pipe. It had grime and mold attached to its walls.

"I don't see any Gaunt jumping through that…"Tom said, looking Cordelia a look.

"I don't think that they would jump either." Cordelia said thoughtfully.

" **Stairs?"** Tom almost asked instead of commanding but the stones from the wall of the pipe moved until the pipe became a sort of a helix with steps protruding out.

"We will still slip over the grime." Cordelia whispered, "And who knows what kind of mold ancient magic and dormant years could give rise to?"

"Vanishing could work?" Tom suggested.

"I would like to test some of it, just for safety." She softly replied.

And then she waved her wand in an elaborate gesture and Tom saw a single long section of the grime being almost peeled off neatly.

She pulled out a sealed box meant for ingredients and stored the infinitely long layer of the mold and grime into the extendable box.

'Skurgo Maxima." Tom murmured when Cordelia was done.

"Depello Contagio maxima…" Cordelia murmured the disinfectant spell next.

"I am not letting us catch a rare disease because we did not vanish germs." She explained before Tom could even ask.

She started to step ahead when Tom pulled her close again, "Not so ahead…What if the basilisk is waiting…" He did not have to complete.

"Together…" She said and they took the first step together. Tom had also created a round sphere like shield around them.

The shield was the first parselmagic he had learned from the Slytherin journals. He had taken the mandate to protect her too seriously but she was not complaining.

They had been delaying visiting Chamber for a long time. Well, one, they did not have enough time on the hand. The setting up of the court had taken up a lot of time and energy, so did their familiars to be honest. Two, Tom was not in a hurry to find the chamber any more. The Lord ring on his finger was a bigger proof about his legacy than anything the Chamber could provide. Third, Tom was a little paranoid about Cordelia's safety and she highly suspected that he was delaying it just because he did not want a basilisk and her in the same room.

Classic Tom!

As they descended down the helix staircase, Cordelia kept a close eye on the architecture.

"The walls are imbued with runes. They will respond to parselmagic easily and quickly. We just need to say commands." Tom murmured.

"But these runes are not…These runes are not from 400 years ago. They are older. How strange because the walls are less than 400 years old? Their making and everything, they are not part of any curriculum. They are old, older, perhaps from Slytherin's times." Cordelia exclaimed.

"Hmmm…it just might be evidence from your theory about magic. Maybe the magic from Chamber of secrets expanded to these walls and the runes appeared by themselves in response to the magic." Tom mused.

"I told you that particular theory a few months ago, quite offhandedly, I might add?" Cordelia gave him a curious look.

"I pay attention to what you say Lia. I dare say that I paid a lot of attention even back then; you fascinated me." Tom shrugged.

Cordelia could not help the little blush that formed on her face, "Stop flattering me."

"I am saying it like it is." Tom smiled and shrugged, and kissed the top of her nose teasingly. .

Cordelia just huffed and began the downward journey again. Tom chuckled and followed her.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

"Is that supposed to be Slytherin?" Tom wrinkled his nose.

"He is not particularly good looking, is he?" Cordelia said in an amused tone.

"He looks like a monkey…"Tom said without care.

Cordelia sniggered, "Well, I don't think you got your godly good looks from the line of Slytherin, Tom. The Gaunts were hideous."

"Then maybe it is a Gaunt. They certainly gave me the impression of being narcissistic arseholes. I doubt Slytherin would make a statue of himself. It is just creepy, having a statue of yourself behind you as you work. Does not seem like his style from all the journals that he left behind." Tom speculated.

"Maybe you are right. Monkey face suits Gaunts better. They were inbred, had too many physical deformities. It was the talk of the town." Cordelia mused.

Tom looked around, "I mean look at the snakes. Did Salazar want the horroresque look? This is completely different from the private chambers and the Slytherin dorms. Maybe the Gaunts refurbished the place or something."

"What do his journals say?" Cordelia asked with curiosity.

"Well, he planned the chamber so that he could conduct magical experiments away from the eyes of the three founders because they sometimes disapproved but also to keep the ambient magic away from the children in the school. Slytherin was curious, very curious. He did some rather questionable stuff in the name of academic curiosity, hatching the basilisk for the example. But he experimented with the method before hatching. He fed the egg his own magic on a regular basis and imbued the egg in potions that promoted higher cognition. His Basilisk could apparently reason and was not as vile or bloodthirsty as the other basilisks but it was large and he was not sure that Godric would see reason even if Salazar tried to convince him. And Godric's reservations were not wrong either; Basilisks were considered a part of Black magic though Slytherin knew otherwise. But basically, he needed a giant home for his familiar, where she would be safe. He expanded the chamber to hold her. So, the chamber of secrets has a potions lab, a ritual room, the room for the basilisk, the antechamber or where we are standing right now. He used the antechamber to duel against golems which is why I am sure that these metal snakes were absent in his time. They would have been a hazard in dueling with their reflector surfaces. This Chamber also has numerous passageways that lead all over Hogwarts including the Slytherin common room. I am fairly sure that one would lead to the living quarters as well." Tom summarized as he pointed in random directions.

"I take it that the chamber does not resemble what he described." Cordelia simply stated.

"It does not. He was a little secretive in describing the chamber to be honest. He thought a true heir would discover all the works by himself or herself. All he mentioned was the components of the chamber." Tom was trying very hard to contain his frustration with the founder of his family but the chances were that Cordelia could see right through it.

"Well, the founders, despite their great status, were people. I am sure all of them had quirks. I am pretty sure that they had habits that were annoying and inconvenient for the people around them, so we are not the only ones who feel that way." Cordelia softly pointed out.

What had he just said? This woman constantly saw through him.

For a while, Tom had been afraid that his masks were not good enough but he had slowly realized that it was just Lia as a factor and not his inability to keep up appearances that influenced the dynamics of their relationship.

To be honest, he saw through her too. He could sense her anger, her joy and amusement from miles away.

Which is why, he could sense that she was worried about him right now but was pretending to analyze the chamber lest she give her worry away.

This was, admittedly, one of the things he loved the most about her. She did not smother him. She did not cajole him too much even when she spent her time worrying. She had this steadfast way in which she dealt with him, shooting him down or even yelling to get her point across.

In short, she treated him like a person. Not an antagonist, not someone inherently superior to her, but a person.

And that had not changed once they entered the courtship. He had been witness to great many women who had become submissive, their own personalities almost dwindling in the shine of their suitors.

He did not blame them. As Cordelia often pointed out, and as he had observed, the system was against women. If they did not become submissive, they were loud, or shrill or hysterical or attention seeking. Traits not found in 'cultured', 'well-bred' women.

Even Cordelia was very careful about her public persona. She was assertive but in a very friendly, demure way. Not as demure or as compliant as several other women, but certainly not as hostile and uncaring as he was. And he knew that she wanted to be hostile. He had seen her righteous anger against Renatus firsthand but she had still been indulgent to Renatus when he cross-questioned her about stupid things of court.

Though, Tom was very happy that she dropped all the protocols, niceties, and demureness in front of him. She would slap his back, shake his shoulders, poke and prod him, argue and debate with him like an equal.

He glanced at her sideways, her worry was more palpable now. She was chewing her bottom lip as she stared off at something.

"Lia..." He gently asked, touching her arms.

"I am thinking that once we can get an inventory of everything here, we need to refurbish this. This is crazy." Cordelia said in a measured tone, "I won't have you thinking that you need to be part of this weird thing that Gaunts had going. The earlier we can erase their existence and perversions from in front of us, the better it will be."

He could sense her rage, the serenity of her rage. He started rubbing soothing circles on his palm. It was something she did constantly to him in all the meetings, to keep him calm.

"Of course, only if you feel like it." She amended a little sheepishly.

"I seriously think that the metal snakes should be gone. Let us see if we can charm the ceiling to something more animated. We could, well, I am not any good at aesthetics, but I think you can come up with better ideas and we can do it a little by little until the summer break." Tom offered, ignoring her comment about overstepping her bounds.

He knew that she would get over it eventually. He still remembered her protest at using the consort rooms.

 _"I cannot possibly be that presumptuous Tom…." Her horrified voice still sent him chuckling._

"I don't suppose that Slytherin mentioned any passageway or something that could lead to the Basilisk, to, you know, protect and warn the heir?" Cordelia asked, glancing around the room.

"I am afraid, not. We are on our own. But if I have deduced the personality of Salazar very well, the man would hide things in plain sight. He was very clever in that way. However, since the Gaunts have clearly meddled with this architecture, we cannot be certain what exactly was once plain and what was not." Tom shrugged.

"Yeah well…"Cordelia nodded.

"I still think that the statue is significant. Maybe the Gaunts build the face of Salazar in their own image, paying homage to their supposed founder but actually feeding their own ego. Gaunts liked to boast. Hell, they could not keep quiet about how they were Morgana's gifts to wizarding kind. This statue also boasts something and so do those snakes. I think they all lead to different passageways; the snakes to the rest of the school and the statue to the lair of the basilisk." Tom thought and spoke aloud as he pieced the puzzle quickly in his head.

"That sounds possible. But I doubt that saying open in parseltongue would do the trick, just like the living quarters. We need something unique to the heir or the lord to open the lair." Cordelia put in her two knuts.

"It won't be the ring or blood. He won't put the same safety measure in two places. The ring opens the living quarters and the blood opens the vaults and the journals within them. Another thing that only a Slytherin would have?" Tom mused, thinking hard.

"You just said that the Gaunts have changed the layout. They had no access to the Lord or Heir ring. Their blood would not work the same way a true Heir or Lord's would. So, both of those options are out. The only thing that they had was the ability of parseltongue and possibly, the Slytherin locket." Cordelia shook her head and touched the locket quickly, giving Tom a look.

"The locket is empty or was empty. I had checked. Now it has powdered magical crystals so that it can absorb excess magic." Tom informed swiftly.

"I am thinking of ways in which a locket could function as a key but I can't." Cordelia rubbed her chin absently.

"Parseltongue?" Tom asked.

"The most likely! Maybe, they had a password that they passed down to generations." Cordelia raised both her brows.

"That means we need to guess the password." Tom said seriously.

"Not really. We need to solve the puzzle. " Cordelia declared firmly.

Tom merely gave her a questioning and doubtful look.

"No, seriously, we have clues. Gaunts clearly believed in symbolism. The password will reflect their heritage. Parseltongue is one way to do that, but I doubt that they would choose a random phrase even if it is in the snake language. So, something that links back to their Slytherin heritage. Pureblood, snakes etc. Slytherin himself was from what is now modern Ireland, maybe something to do with that. We just have to figure out what." Cordelia mused.

"Great, now we have to think like them too. That's what I was rooting for." Tom said sarcastically.

"I am pretty sure that it will be predictable. They might have descended from Slytherin but they lacked his cunning and his honor." Cordelia assured him touching his left shoulder.

"They thought they were above everybody. Better than other purebloods too, so it just cannot be related to the blood." Tom was thinking aloud.

"Why were they above everyone? What made them so great?" Cordelia prompted.

"Because they were related to Slytherin. They thought they were better, greater because they were descended from Slytherin without undiluted blood." Tom swiftly answered.

"And they hated other founders. They promoted antipathy between houses. They thought Slytherin was better than the other founders." Cordelia added.

"Slytherin, the greatest of all the Founders." Tom murmured.

"They were not always called Founders. They are more popularly known as the Hogwarts four. The term founder was first used by my ancestor, Phineas Nigellus Black. That is his legacy to the history of the school. Gaunts had stopped attending Hogwarts long before he took over, so we should try Hogwarts four instead of Founders." Cordelia informed.

"Wands ready. Keep your eyes closed, Lia. I am immune to the basilisk's gaze because of my lord status." Tom quickly said.

Cordelia nodded.

 **'Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four."** Tom hissed

Nothing happened.

"We are partially right." Cordelia said quickly, "Magic whirred in the stones near the statue's face."

"It could just be because we are speaking in parselmouth." Tom shook his head.

"Say something else in parseltongue then. Let us test it." Cordelia insisted.

" **Open."** Tom hissed.

"Nothing." Cordelia shook her head, but she had a glint in her eyes.

'Since it was the face, maybe the entrance is there, through the mouth." Tom wondered.

" **Open your mouth, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four.** " Tom hissed and Cordelia doubled over in laughter.

"What?" Tom asked in genuine confusion.

"Open your mouth is used with babies and toddlers to try and feed them food, Tom. It is just hilarious to see you commanding Salazar Slytherin to do the same." Cordelia told him in between peals of laughter.

"All that is missing is baby faces and long notes. I mean, **Ooopen yoourr mouth…Sleetherin, greataiste ooofff theee Hoawgwurts Foouurr."*** Cordelia made weird faces and spoke with greater emphasis on the vowels and burst into laughter again.

"Okay, now that was hilarious and a little disturbing. I cannot deny that." Tom said sincerely trying to hide his leaking laughter, "But what else am I supposed to say?"

"Well, a mouth speaks and talks. Asking somebody to talk is informal, and not at all the Gaunt way. How about **Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four."** Cordelia just said off-handedly.

"If that is it, we should totally change it. It is a mouthful and a little disturbing." Tom shuddered.

"Well, what should we use? **Tom Marvolo Riddle, the lost Scion of Slytherin!"** Cordelia said dramatically.

"Haha. Very funny. I am not as narcissistic as those Gaunt nincompoops." Tom said in an annoyed tone.

"Yeah, you are just very smug about your hair and your eyes and oh! your voice. You could hear yourself talk for hours…" Cordelia teased.

"The thing I am most smug about is you, my dear. If I were you, I would watch what I was commenting on..." Tom shot back.

"Well, I am worth being smug about." Cordelia shot back.

"And my hair is not, and my voice is not and nor are my eyes." Tom said blandly.

"Never said they weren't. Have you heard Lyra Greengrass go on about your dreamy midnight blue eyes? She just keeps getting lost in them, you know." Cordelia mimicked his tone and she looked a little miffed.

Tom looked surprised and then a small smile crept into his face and he said with wonder and amusement, "You are jealous."

Cordelia snorted and was about to speak and deny it when Tom spoke again, "So, I am not the only one who gets jealous. And I thought I was doing something wrong. This is great." He looked relieved.

"Who were you jealous of?" Cordelia now looked curious and surprised by his admission, forgetting her denial.

"Errr..it is embarrassing." Tom began scratching his head, "I should not be jealous at all…There is no logic.." He shook his head in confusion.

Cordelia was looking at him thoughtfully, waiting for him to continue. Tom was currently looking away, staring at their shoes.

But then he looked at her, "You don't need to be though, jealous, I mean. Greengrass…well, there is never going to be anyone beside you Lia. She does not even matter!" He said with utmost sincerity.

"You silly, silly person" Cordelia murmured fondly, gently taking his hands into hers as they lightly began planting kisses on each other's faces.

"You don't have to be either. You will always be in my heart, nobody can even come closer." She shook her head and pressed her forehead against his.

" **Now, now, don't get so sentimental brats. No weeping in my home. I mean you were having a perfectly nice and entertaining lover's spat and then you had to go and make it mushy…so disappointing!"** A hissing noise interrupted the moment.

Both Tom and Cordelia froze. Tom had immediately and instinctively covered Cordelia's eyes, "Don't look! It is the basilisk."

Cordelia seemed perfectly content in obeying him about that but her hands did tightly fist his shirt, lest he move away from her and closer to the basilisk.

He turned his face slowly to face the giant serpent. She was huge, really huge. Tom barely registered her length or width because he was too busy staring at her big mouth. She could swallow Cordelia and him both in a single gulp. Probably, an addition of couple more humans could actually form a proper mouthful.

And she seemed to be grinning, while her outer fangs glistened in the eerie light of the Chamber.

Tom swallowed heavily; he was so scared about Cordelia.

But then he remembered that he was supposed to be the snake's master. He regained his composure and addressed the snake, " **Lady Erin, it is a great honor to finally see you."**

" **And you know my proper name! How thrilling? Even Salazar had begun calling me Ursula towards his last days, mistaking me for his wife's dead familiar."** She looked pleased.

 **"Surely, the others called you by your preferred name."** Tom blinked in confusion.

 **"I doubt the Gaunts looked at her with the same level of respect and gave her autonomy as we do, Tom. She was just a big snake and an ingredient provider for them**." Cordelia was the one who replied. Her eyes were still tightly shut.

" **Ah, a master with a smart mate."** If you could cackle while hissing, that is what the basilisk seemed to be doing.

Cordelia and Tom both froze a little at the mate.

Sure, Tom loved her but his mind was yet to wander off to mating.

He decisively shut his thoughts behind a mental barrier and looked at the basilisk again.

 **"You can open your eyes, my lady. I sense the essence of mother inside you. My gaze cannot harm you."** The basilisk informed Cordelia graciously.

"No…" Tom said urgently, " **I would rather not test it, my apologies Erin. Until I am sure that it is absolutely safe…** " He trailed off.

Erin looked offended. But Tom did not care, Cordelia was more important.

He could also sense Cordelia's irritation, her lips were pressed into a thin line but so far, she had respected his fear and kept her eyes tightly shut without any protest.

" **You are very protective of her. An admirable trait, but perhaps I could convince you of the safety I offer to her. I can willingly turn off my gaze, otherwise, I would never be able to look at anything other than my masters. Conjure an animal and I shall look at it directly without harming it."** Erin proposed, whilst closing her eyes.

Tom still looked dubiously at the snake but summoned a rat from the pipes, " **You can look**." He gently said.

Erin did just that and the rat lay on the floor, still squirming, very much alive.

"Can I open my eyes now?" Cordelia's impatient voice filled Tom's ears.

He still looked unsure but reluctantly said yes.

Cordelia opened her eyes and boldly looked right into Erin's eyes. Nothing happened.

Tom's shoulders loosened as he pulled Cordelia into a hug in relief, placing her head on the crook of his neck.

"You are such a worrywart." She murmured, fiddling with the buttons at his collar but not moving away.

Erin wheezed with laughter and Cordelia gave her an amused look. She separated from Tom and dropped a curtsey to the basilisk, " **It is nice to meet you Erin. I am Cordelia Faye Black, from the House of Black and Malfoy and Heiress to the House of Black.** "

" **Well met, heiress Black** ," The basilisk lowered her head in acknowledgment.

" **Well met indeed!"** Tom muttered.

" **And you have not introduced yourself, Lord of Slytherin. Would you prefer your title over your name?"** Cordelia jested.

"Oh Morgana, no." Tom cursed.

" **Tom Marvolo Riddle, Lord of the House of Slytherin."** Tom gave a small nod.

" **Not a Gaunt then?"** Erin said carefully.

Tom and Cordelia shared a look, and Tom finally told, " **We are not sure. I am an orphan and I was abandoned in the muggle world after my mother died. I was certainly not raised by them and I do not share their values."**

" **Well, you must have a blood tie to them. That is the only way you would have gotten Slytherin's blood."** Erin said thoughtfully **, "But it is a good thing that you were raised away from them, lunatics, the whole lot of them; killed students of the school for fun."** Erin's tone had gone dark towards the end.

 **"You mean muggleborns**?" Cordelia asked.

" **You don't call them mudblood. That is a good sign. But I guess you would not have gotten the Lordship if you had animosity towards them**." Erin informed.

" **Did they …did they order you to kill the children?"** Cordelia asked warily.

" **Heiress Black, I would not lie. I have killed children. Even though Gaunts never inherited the Slytherin title, I respected them initially because of the sheer closeness of their blood. That was a mistake. They used compulsions and manipulations to make me do as they pleased and passed the reign of me to future generations. I cannot say that it was against my will; because I could have fought the compulsions…I am still surprised that I woke up lucid this time. "** Erin said in a tone of defeat.

 **"Time may have played a role, Erin.** **The last time a Gaunt walked the halls of Hogwarts was 300 years ago."** Tom informed.

" **May I examine your eyes, Lady Erin? It will not hurt. You just need to bend a little.** " Cordelia asked hesitantly.

Erin leveled her head to the floor.

" **There are faint signs of being under imperious curse on multiple occasions by multiple signatures. And you have a compulsion rune on your head, makes you rabid and bloodthirsty, so much that you cannot think about anything else but killing everything in your path. The magic of the rune broke recently."** Cordelia said rapidly as she swiftly examined the giant reptile.

" **Maybe that has something to do with my Lordship.** **There was a strong pulse because somebody ascended the lordship after a long time…"** Tom suggested.

" **That might be it."** Cordelia spoke still looking at the carved rune.

Erin looked angry but also overwhelmed.

" **Would you mind if I do some healing? The carving is slowly healing as the magic powering it has been lost but it can turn septic and well, it must be hurting you. I can also erase the abrasions that have developed because of too much mind control and compulsion. " Cordelia asked.**

Erin blinked and nodded her huge head.

Cordelia called forth a pure ball of magic silently and wandlessly and send it inside Erin.

The rune healed until all that remained was a faint scar.

" **I am afraid that I won't be able to do anything about the scar. It is a cursed scar, difficult to be rid of. It won't even go away when you shed your skin. Maybe, once I have my majority, I will be able to do something**." Cordelia apologized.

" **That is alright Magicae. You must not stretch yourself unless you have access to all your channels.** " Erin advised.

" **Do all magicae speak Parseltongue?** " Tom asked curiously.

When the basilisk gave him a curious look, he explained, " **You were not surprised that Lia was a parselmouth and you sensed that she was a magicae, so I just wondered**."

" **Why would I be surprised? Slytherin is not the only line that could speak Parseltongue. Serpens could, so could Gwenyth, and Meander and Ollots."** Erin informed, " **I take it that they are all lost lines now?"**

 **"They are dead or lost lines. I have heard of Serpens. A previous magicae was from the same line and I got the family vaults of the line. But others have faded away from living memory."** Cordelia informed and looked at Tom, who also remembered the information.

" **I knew her, the magicae you speak of."** Erin nodded, " **It is strange, the line of Slytherin must be truly blessed."**

 **"I don't understand."** Tom asked in confusion.

" **Well, the children of magic from the line of Serpens were promised to Slytherin. The magicae from the house of Serpens I speak of was Slytherin's first wife. To think that you have found a magicae from another line and are so close to her? How utterly auspicious?"** Erin said happily.

Close was an understatement according to Tom but he did not say anything.

 **'So, Slytherin married a magicae…"** Tom questioned.

 **"Yes** , **don't ask me details though. I scarcely remember how my master looked, much less anything else."** Erin replied.

 **"Well, it has been thousand years…Images scarcely last decades when you do not rehearse them even in the larger human brains. Though, if you see the image, it would appear familiar. And you would remember factual information much better…"** Cordelia muttered.

 **"I take it that the statue over there is not Slytherin?"** Tom asked in a tone laced with amusement.

 **"No, that is the eldest Gaunt who married into the line of Slytherin. More like tricked the descendants of Slytherin into giving her hand to him, made her his slave of sorts, made her give him heirs and then sacrificed her in black magic to gain the ability of parseltongue for himself and then killed all the other Slytherins. I had hoped that one of them escaped. I have waited too long for a true scion of Slytherin. Not all Gaunts were bad; some of them saw their family for the monstrosity but were quickly silenced through murder or manipulation. The last master who locked me inside loved to boast about the achievements of his line."** Erin said sadly.

Cordelia had raised her brows and Tom was too busy looking at her reaction to react.

"Well, blood politics has always been fucked up. You will find skeletons in every family's closet. They certainly took the blood mania and raised it to an exponentially high megalomania. It does not excuse what Gaunts did but it certainly make them stand out less." Cordelia said easily.

Tom looked at Cordelia and they talked in their minds briefly before he turned to address Erin, " **You are free, Erin. We are not going to compel or order you to do harm. We would ask you to remain in these chambers though. It is not safe for a basilisk outside. We will try and make arrangements. I have not yet accessed Slytherin estate and when I do within a few months, you could probably move there if you wish to. The Forbidden Forest will be too open and revealing. I know the hibernation spell as well. If you wish to sleep until then, we could do that too."**

" **There is another option. It will take a bit of time to do it though. I can enter your nest, cast an undetectable extension charm and mimic a habitat that you would prefer. We could even have a mix, a shelter and free space of sorts. But I will need some time to come up with spellwork that would suit it best."**

 **"You can roam about in the antechamber until then. One of us will come visit you every day or in specific periods. What is your food cycle like? How often do you need to eat? We do not know much about your metabolism. We do have an idea since we have an Apophis in our care but she is much smaller than you. We will bring her down soon to visit so that you have some company. But could you tell us more about your needs…"** Tom nodded at Cordelia's idea and requested the serpent and Cordelia gave her an encouraging nod.

Erin looked startled by their request but she hesitantly began hissing.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

Abraxas was quietly writing down his transfiguration essay in the corner of Library. Cordelia had been searching him for quite a bit. Her one month worth of court proceedings had left her bereft of any light and emotional talk with all of her cousins. Sure, they had met, talked and discussed stuff but it was all business. They rarely had room for personal conversations. Even the banter had focused so much on court that Cordelia was feeling distanced from everyone but Tom.

She had been catching up with all of them slowly. But today, she was searching for Abraxas with a purpose.

She approached his table and settled down, "Am I disturbing you?"

Abraxas looked up with a little surprised expression but it smoothed over to a fond yet tired smile, "Of course not, Corrie!"

"Is there a particular reason why you have left the warmth of the fires of dungeons to come in this academically inclined yet freezing space?" Cordelia asked pointedly.

"The common room was noisy." He automatically replied.

"At 8 in morning over a winter weekend? Even Tom is lazing about right now and he is very active in mornings." Cordelia asked shrewdly.

Abraxas blinked in confusion. Cordelia did not blame him. She rarely pushed her cousins this directly. Usually, her methods were more underhanded and manipulative, so much that her cousins were none the wiser. For her, to ask such direct questions, it was a little strange.

But she did not have the luxury of time; she knew that Abraxas was hurting.

"I do not understand." Abraxas was genuinely confused.

"I know this trip is because of Aunt Lysa. It is natural for you to remember your mother on her birthday but you should not alienate yourself from people who care for you." Cordelia said directly.

"I am not upset Corrie. You and I are both aware of how motherly my mother was. She rarely remembered my existence, too busy in her Yaxley family." Abraxas shot sarcastically and detachedly.

Cordelia stayed silent, not commenting at all, just giving him a penetrative look.

"I was never enough for her. My father was never enough for her. On the best days, she ignored me. On the worst days, I was lambasted by how I destroyed her life, her body. And I understand her too, she was , well, the marriage was a contractual one, she never came to love father. He was too open-minded for her and I get that they did not get along and maybe she had never wanted me. But I wish she had not been so open in her hatred for me. So, no, I do not miss her." Abraxas said dejectedly, emotions swimming in his eyes.

"I never said you were missing her Abraxas. I know what went down, I know how she was with you, I know why mother constantly felt the need to mother you, why I still feel the need to mother you. I will also not insult the care and love your father gives you by saying that you cannot live without your mother's affection. But she did play a hand in bringing you to this world, you did live with her for few years, you did hope that she would show affection for you, you did receive hateful looks from her and even on her dying bed she did ask you to take your grief ridden face elsewhere. You are allowed to remember the fact that that woman bereft you of affection. You are allowed to remember and miss the mother that you wished you had. And it is perfectly normal for you to feel angry and be angry at her. Sure, she might not have wanted the marriage, or you. Her beef was with her family who arranged the marriage, and possibly Uncle Rion, not with you. You were faultless. And yes, she might not have been able to be affectionate towards you in those circumstances but she had no right to be hateful either. You were an innocent child, regardless of her preference about procreation. And she was perfectly happy, I would have understood if there was post-partum melancholia or anything. But she just chose to be hateful. The situation might have been unfair to her but she had no right to make it unfair for you. " Cordelia said softly, holding his hand comfortingly.

Abraxas did not say anything, he just moved so that he had easy access to Cordelia and hugged her with all his worth.

"I am fortunate to have you. All of your family is fortunate to have you. Don't ever forget that!' He said fiercely.

"You are not alone you know," Cordelia said, ignoring his comment in words but tightening her hold on him.

"I know I have you." He murmured.

"That you do, but I meant in your struggle. Uncle Arty and Aunt Ariel are hardly around. Uncle Polly and Cassy are too busy with Cygnus, their son to pay attention to the older daughters. That apathy does not equate to the hate you went through but it is similar. Even Tom, he was …."She stopped there, paused for a bit and continued, "I know you have come to see Father and Mother as the ideal parents but there are other broken scenarios in our circle itself. And none of them readily talk about it, just like you. I am not suggesting that you pry, but sometimes, talking through your insecurities help. It has certainly helped me whenever I have confided in Tom. It might also help you to talk to uncle Rion. You had a hateful mother and he had a hateful wife. You were too young to understand certain things but I am sure that her cruelty grated him more, especially when he saw her hating his beloved son."

"Father tried to get me to talk, after her death. I stormed off, remember, the time I hid in those pinecones and you tracked me down using those peacocks. He never spoke about it again." Abraxas said solemnly.

"Maybe he was scared Abe, scared for you and of you. Uncle Rion loves you; he could not possibly want to do a thing that drove you away from him. You did not see how sad he was that day…I had lied, I was not chasing peacocks, I was looking for you because Uncle Rion looked so sad. You know me, I was such a nosy child, never could see anyone unhappy, and had to put my foot where it did not belong." Cordelia said forcefully. The last bit brought a ghost of a smile at Abraxas' face.

"I still cannot believe that people thought you were an angel…you put Alphard to shame with your deeds." Abraxas murmured.

"I take offence. I never got caught and I always looked the part of a little angel, all innocent and smiling. Alphard can never pull that." Cordelia sniffed her nose and delicately checked her nails, and batted her eyelashes at him.

That did it, Abraxas broke into a small laugh. And Cordelia joined him with her gentle, musical laughter.

"Don't tell Tom I did that. He won't ever let me live that down." She said seriously a moment later.

"Oh yes, I make it my business to tell Tom about the embarrassing things that you have done up till now." Abraxas said sarcastically, "That would go really well, Heir Slytherin, did you know that heiress Black likes to bat her eyelashes at men…" He imitated and then snickered as if he could not believe the ridiculousness of it.

"I bat my eyelashes at him, all the time. He knows." Cordelia said wryly.

Abraxas gave her a look, "You bat your eyelashes at him?"

"What can I say? It has an uplifting effect on morbid men." Cordelia said pompously.

Abraxas chuckled lightly at that.

"Breakfast?" She smiled at his smiling eyes.

"Lead on, my lady…" Abraxas gestured.

* * *

 **This is officially the longest update ever. I was trying to upheld the promise that I had made about the longer chapters but well, it spiraled out of control...I did not want to cut the essence of the chapter so I am publishing it intact.**

 **Please leave me reviews.**

 **Next update: Christmas !**


	35. Chapter 29: Disclosure

FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

 **Flipped**

 **Summary**

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

 **Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" **Parseltongue** ** _"_**

* * *

 **Chapter 29**

 **Disclosure**

 **Evelyn's POV**

Cordelia and Evelyn had just joined the remaining Black sisters after the end of their Classes.

"We cannot have this discussion in the library. Madam Hopkirk is looking for an excuse to give me a detention. We cannot use classrooms because they are dank and cold. We cannot use the Court rooms because this is not official work. So, we may as well use Slytherin's common room." Cordelia was on a roll.

The other Black sisters nodded their heads in agreements and chimed something or the other.

"I can't enter, I will see…" Evelyn began saying but was cut off by Cordelia's vehement response, "Nonsense, you are a guest. There is nothing in the Hogwarts rule against that. You are coming since there are at least a couple of hours till curfew. I am sure Tweaky can bring us dinner there. He has been very enthusiastic in serving Tom and by addition, me. "

So, they were actually discussing Ancient runes. Lucretia and Walburga both had their NEWTS and OWLS respectively and Cordelia, Dorea and Evelyn had studied far enough to aid them in their revision plans.

Cordelia had also involved Evelyn because of her penmanship. She drew runes very carefully and Lucretia had a trembling hand. So, Evelyn was working with her on that while Walburga was coached by Dorea and Cordelia.

Cordelia was frighteningly good at runes, so good that she was able to construct customized wards, albeit she was only far ahead to create short-lived ones for smaller areas.

Those kind of wards required mixing arithmancy with Runes in a very precise manner and was only a skill people learned far towards the end of their NEWTS in preparation of their masteries or training of their profession, be it a curse breaker or a warder.

"Having a ward master for a father…If only…" Walburga had muttered several times in her frustration.

"The Annual showcase will be announced in the next week. The Prefects all know, of course." Dorea was informing Cordelia as they all gilded down to dungeons.

Evelyn had only ever been in dungeons for potions. They gave her the creeps, especially in the dreary winter, where everything was cold.

But as soon as the coldness started seeping up, Cordelia waved her wand leisurely and warmth cloaked all of us.

The plain slab of wall was quite well, like Slytherin. A cunning way to hide the entrance. Nobody who never knew the place could find the place, considering that it had no way to markedly differentiate it from other slabs of walls.

"Bezeor!" Cordelia said, glancing at the wall but otherwise engaged in the bits that Dorea was telling her.

Lucretia was telling Evelyn about the lace patterns that she was confused between for her wedding robes while Walburga was quietly adding on to Dorea's monologue.  
The wall dissolved to have a cave like entrance into what seemed like an underwater sanctum.

There was only one word to describe the Slytherin common room, opulent.

But unlike her imagination, it was neither cold nor dank. Roaring fires surrounded the room in a circular fire pit that stuck close to the wall.

People looked up when they heard Cordelia's voice. She exchanged several nods and waved to a lot of people. Evelyn knew most of them from older years, at least by their names and reputation.

Evelyn could sense curious gazes on her, but nobody even questioned her presence, much less protest it.

Evelyn guessed that they were afraid of incurring Cordelia's wrath.

She could see other court members, Knights from Slytherin huddled together, working or maybe just talking. Tom was nowhere to be seen.

Abraxas Malfoy looked up and flashed a smile, "Corrie, Slughorn has sent invites for his little get together. I gave yours to Tom."

Cordelia nodded. There was a set of couches empty near the right end of the common room and Evelyn followed Dorea and the other two to sit on them.

Cordelia had spotted something because she moved towards the giant fireplace, which moved to reveal a grand staircase, and two things; one white and the other black, pranced out of it.

"Nyx, Lux, come to Mumma…" Cordelia called out and the two creatures, kneazles actually, bundled near her where Cordelia easily picked both of them in her arms.

She was kissing them, scratching behind their ears and nuzzling them and the kneazles were mewling happily at the attention and affection.

Evelyn saw that she was not the only one watching; the Black sisters had fond smiles as they saw Cordelia. Evelyn picked the goblet of water that had appeared in front of her.

Lucretia gave her a mischievous smile, "Guess who daddy is?"

Evelyn choked on the water as Dorea and Lucretia laughed in amusement and Walburga rolled her eyes.

"No, no…be a good kitten, Nyx. Mummy missed you too…" Cordelia was muttering lightly and she joined all of them with the kneazles still yapping in her arms.

"I did not know you had kneazles, Cordelia." Evelyn spoke before she could restrain herself.

"They are not mine, technically. I presented Tom with them for Yule. But the scoundrels are a lot of work, so all of us help out whenever we can. And considering I added the burden on him, I equally partake in their care." Cordelia smiled, eyeing the two balled up kittens.

I nodded thoughtfully.

"Nyx, Lux, say hello to Evie." She commanded as often parents do. Evelyn stifled her own amusement at Cordelia's antics.

They both came to Evelyn, padding across the couch, sniffed her, sat on their backlegs and made approving noises.

She just petted their heads gently. She was used to cats. Amara had one that made noises like a banshee. If she could tolerate that one, then Nyx and Lux seemed very well behaved.

Lux gently licked the top of Evelyn's hand and both of them sauntered back to Cordelia, easily climbing and snuggling into her lap.

Cordelia's eyes held pride.

"C'mon, let us begin." She easily pulled away her eyes from the young charges while keeping one arm on their bellies and all of them went back to runes.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

Cordelia was murderous. Actually, murder was tame to compare with the activities and torture her mind was going through.

This term was going fairly well. She had been annoyed to death by miscreants, doubters and just annoying peasants and elites but it had been bearable.

At least, murder had not crossed the threshold of the potential comebacks.

Unfortunately, it did not last.

So, it was a perfectly fine potions class. Slughorn's laughter grated her and Tom but they were both used to it.

Tom was paired up with Abraxas for the day as Eve had some issues in the new potions interactions and Cordelia had decided to pair up with her for that lesson.

Albert Carrow apparently had wanted something from Slughorn, so he had arrived in the middle of the lesson.

The drunkard for once had sharp eyes and gave Cordelia vicious looks in his entire visit. Now that she could have lived with: He had nothing over the hated glares of the Dursleys or for that fact, Umbridge.

But they had been making the Alihotsy draught.

Now making it is a delicate task and administering it has ethical implications. But that was beyond the point because the stunt that Carrow pulled was dangerous without taking the brewing potion in account.

Throwing erumpent fluid into any classroom is dangerous, throwing it in a potions classroom is stupid and goes beyond dangerous, but throwing it in a cauldron when the potion is extremely acidic makes the explosion worse and is reserved for another level of apathy and idiocy.

And that is what Carrow did, threw a pouch full of erumpent fluid into Tom's cauldron. The pouch melted in the acid instantly and mixed with erumpent fluid to convert into a cauldron full of liquid Bombarda that went off immediately along with spitting out smoke and garble that could cause giant hysteria and psychosis.

She thankfully knew a shield to contain it before it could cause any damage and had been keeping a close eye on Carrow.

Crisis one averted.

Then, Carrow discreetly tried to stun Tom into falling down the stairs, much like Renatus had done to her but she had cloaked Tom in a shield throughout. No spell would make its way to hurt him. Not on her watch.

She had been reluctant to go for quidditch practice, as she was afraid of leaving Tom alone. She still had not informed him about the various mishaps and murder attempts. After ensuring that Jormy was close at hand and guarding Tom, making sure that Dorea and Walburga did not leave his side by cooking up some excuse, she reluctantly and finally left.

But apparently it had been for naught because Tom got a letter in that duration, more accurately, a magically sealed envelope poorly disguised as a Gringotts missive filled with bubotuber pus and poison ivy.

That fucking *%*^&#( $ $($( #)!#))&^# # *!*...

Tom had second degree burns on his fingers! Thankfully, Eileen Prince, the potions wiz kid of Slytherin had been nearby and her expertise in potion and Dorea's quick thinking prevented ….prevented…

*sighs*

Her poor Tom!

His bones remained unscathed, so he did not need to spend the night in the infirmary. He had also looked unaffected amidst all the panic as if he was used to seeing his fingers in their less than perfect stage. So very pragmatic, frighteningly similar to Juniper's reactions on battle wounds.

She hastily wiped her tears as she saw his peaceful sleeping face on her lap. His palms and fingers were heavily bandaged and he had been slipped a sleeping draught.

The fingers would be as good as new in a couple of days. Dipping them in dittany had prevented further damage before Madam Underhill was able to do her healing.

Cordelia had felt his pain before anyone could inform her. Her bond with him was getting stronger because likely, his majority was coming closer. Of course, she was thinking the reasons and everything in retrospect. At that time, she had all but blasted everyone who came between her way to Tom as she literally dived from her flying broom and ran all the way to the Slytherin common room.

She had very nearly destroyed the common room because of her fury over the injury to Tom's hands. Thankfully, no one but Tom had been wiser about the negligible control she had over her magic. He managed to calm her down by pressing into her and lightly murmuring that he was fine.

By then, Madam Underhill had arrived and she distracted her by asking for her assistance in the healing procedure.

Her cousins had not known that she was using the consort rooms for obvious reasons, but when she made her move to stay with Tom overnight, none of them questioned it. Abraxas, Burke, Anastius were watching the entrance to the chambers by camping near the fireplace and Dorea and Lucretia had decided to stay over in one of the spare rooms in the residential floor, two rooms down the master bedroom.

And Jormy was coiled at the foot of Tom's bed, alert and agitated. Jormy had not appreciated in the least that somebody had harmed Tom on her watch. She was thirsty for vengeance. Well, that made two of them.

Albert Carrow would pay. Truly, bubotuber pus and poison ivy would not kill, but it hurt and caused a lot of pain. And it was not as if Carrow had not attempted to kill Tom through other means.

So, yes, he deserved and would receive the pain he bestowed on Tom tenfold. But, she would wait until Tom was better and did not need her.

She bent down and kissed his temple lightly, tears nearly spilling out of her eyes.

She lost her composure when it came to Tom. She could not take it. She had sworn to protect him, from Dumbledore, from power hungry lords and heirs of Wizangomot, from Grindelwald and from those horrid muggle 'caretakers'. And she had failed; so spectacularly.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

His fingers had been worse and better but Tom was not awfully angry about it. He guessed that somewhere, all his anguish had transferred to Cordelia who was quite affronted about the attack.

So, now two Hogwarts elves were scanning every parcel and letter that the inner circle was getting. His fingers were also healing faster than normal because Cordelia had been feeding him her magic literally. The trick she had pulled in the balcony of the Black manor could be manipulated to obey Cordelia's wishes. So, she rolled some magic in a bowl like it was porridge and sent it in him with the direction to heal.

Madam Underhill had been a little stumped but she had put it aside, saying that Tom was a powerful wizard, and his excess magic was being utilized to heal him.

That was partially true. He had the excess magic from Cordelia who made it a point to extract magic from the grass or something natural and put it in him. But he was powerful, at least according to Cordelia, because if he was not, his channels would not be able to tolerate or use the excess magic.

She had very pointedly made sure that elves served him extremely nutritious food and that they popped up with snacks every now and then, so that he had enough energy in his system. Tom was getting exasperated but he knew better than to argue with her over it, especially because she had reigned in the elves from their adoring and simpering attitudes by just telling them to well, not do it but in a polite, genteel manner.

For the two days, when his fingers were all but useless, Cordelia had taken upon the task of feeding him. Tom was secretly glad that it was the weekend and that he did not have to go to the great hall for meals.

Besides, Cordelia, well, it had strangely felt really nice as she took spoon after spoon and painstakingly fed him the broth and the pudding and…

Well, Tom was getting carried away. Ever since they had, well, begun their relationship, he had been getting sappier. It was difficult for him to pull away from her. They had been spending more and more time together. To be honest, Tom did not think that Cordelia liked the separation either.

Tom felt nice, well more than nice, almost euphoric because he heard Cordelia mutter that she loved him at least once every day. For him, that was a monumental change, from having no one to having her, from being nobody's concern to her primary concern. Well, he liked to think that he was her primary concern because he had seen it. She went out of her way to be there for him. While she had been doing that for a long time, even as a friend, she cared little about the boundaries right now.

Tom did not give much weight to them either. They had slowly opened up to each other, more than they had as friends.

While their kisses ranged from innocent pecks to passionate lip locks; that was not what Tom was referring to. He was used to her, having her around all the time.

While the previous semester had them in each other's company at night, this term was a whole different route. Cordelia was living in the consort rooms. Actually, that was a loose term. Her clothes and trunk were in that room, well most of them anyway. But she practically lived in his room. She had stopped sneaking out in mornings because people had just assumed that Cordelia woke up early and went up to see Tom and the kneazles in the morning. Her room in the girls' dorm was still bedecked as before where she frequently met her female cousins and if any of them needed her at night, well, that is where the elves came in.

After the first night, where the elves had helped them clean out and set up the living quarters of the lord, Tom and Cordelia had not really been expecting too much from them. Sure, they had thought that elves could help out in a sticky spot or two, where they favored them over the headmaster and Professors, occasionally.

He had not expected the entire brigade of elves to come, shed emotional tears, welcome them to Hogwarts and swear fealty to both of them, to him, for being the Lord of Slytherin, and to Cordelia, for being the magicae. Apparently, her magical reserves and aura was getting greater and even though she was hiding it from the witches and wizards, the elves could sense it as if it were in plain sight.

They also discovered a curious piece the head elf told them; their bond and loyalty to a magicae went beyond their bonds to their masters. Any elf would choose to follow Cordelia's orders over their masters.

While Cordelia and he were not planning a house elf rebellion any time soon, it was a handy piece of information, especially considering the antagonists both of them had collected in the short few months.

But as he was saying, whenever one of the women knocked on Cordelia's doors, Cordelia was alerted through the wards she had put up and an elf immediately popped her back in her old room; because elf popping and wizarding apparition were different and Hogwarts was only warded against the latter.

It had so far only happened a couple of times because Cordelia and he had made no secret of working or studying in the living quarters during the day and in fact, late in the night. They were often joined by Abraxas, Burke and Dorea.

Cordelia entered her designated room and an elf promptly popped her back to well, their sleeping chambers.

Tom had not used to the amount of comfort the master bedroom offered. Cordelia had of course, picked out the plushiest mattress and the softest, warmest blankets and quilts. The floor rugs were similar, in warm colors and the room was littered with all kinds of cushions. The elves were keeping the room immaculate as well. And the fires, the two roaring fires were just another plus.

And it was all his, rightfully his. Not from the orphanage or from the school. This all was personal and his.

In fact, the first thing he had done when he and Cordelia had gone to the bank was to transfer the school funds back with interest into the school vault. He did not want to owe anyone except Cordelia. And well, he wanted the school fund to remain open to people who would actually need it. He could afford to pay for it so he would pay for it.

And while Cordelia had been right about the spurious nature of wealth, it had its perks. Tom could buy all sorts of books, he could spend money on trivial things like chocolates or fancy quills and he could, he could buy and do nice things for Cordelia.

Admittedly, he could have done nice things without money by just using his magic but he felt secure in the thought that if need be, he could take care of her.

There was also comfort in the warm, good quality clothes they had purchased, or the sturdy dragon hide boots he owned. Perhaps, he did not need as many pairs as Cordelia had insisted he buy, but he could not find fault in owning all of them. It kind of felt nice to have choice every morning.

But as he said, Cordelia had been right. Tom Riddle was getting more attention than ever since declaring his lord status. While people in Slytherin had always been a little tongue tied around him (having known his Parseltongue abilities), the rest of the school had seemingly woken up of sorts when it came to him. His lord status and wealth had attracted a fair share of heirs for friendships and possible shared investments. Women were also not too far behind in vying for his attention, from regaling tales of his greatness to gain his favor to establishing their charms in some other way. All of it had irritated him to no end. It felt wonderful to have that kind of power over them but at the same time, he could not get over the faux nature of the attention. They did not care about his magical abilities, or even his character. They valued wealth and blood. While all categories involved some kind of power hierarchy, the latter two were extremely fickle. But as Cordelia said, such was the way of world and they needed to navigate it before they could subvert it.

He was currently walking back from the dining hall after dinner. Cordelia had done a bunk; too busy in her parchments and journals in the Consort study of Slytherin Chambers. Tom had not needlessly worried, knowing that one of the elves on kitchen duty would make sure to pester her until she ate. He did not trust Cordelia to remember dinner but he trusted the elves to ensure that she would take it.

He found her slumped on her desk, half asleep. Tom, without making any effort to wake her from the drowsy state, simply picked her up in his arms and chose not to listen to the half-hearted protests, as Cordelia slumped against his chest and properly fell asleep this time.

She had not slept in three days. The first two days had been spent in changing his bandages timely and worrying and on the third day, she had disappeared somewhere in the middle of the night.

Tom had woken up in the middle of night to find her absent. Jormy had run interference and had told him not to worry. That was suspicious as Jormy seemed gleeful about whatever Cordelia was doing but he trusted Jormy to not be gleeful if Cordelia was putting herself in danger. Jormy did not admit it too often in her caustic complains but she had a soft spot for both the parselmouths.

When he had woken up in morning, his chest was functioning as a pillow for the emerald eyed witch, perfectly unharmed.

While Tom was concerned about her attending classes, Cordelia had deliberately cast Notice me not charms in a couple of classes and napped, so he had refrained from converting into a mother hen. But since it was already night, he preferred her to be sleeping in their bed so that she could rest properly.

Thankfully, she had already changed into her nightwear and was already too sleepy to protest much.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

 **17 hours ago**

 **Men's Dorm, Slytherin Dormitories**

Tom was fast asleep. Jormy was on guard and there was a nice ward around the Master bedroom of the Slytherin chambers apart from the existing wards that covered the whole living area. Anyone who ventured too near the master bedroom was going to be so badly hexed and cursed that it would be a miracle if the screaming would not disturb half the Hogwarts. If anybody was stupid enough to try and go near the rooms, she doubted anyone would.

Revenge was a dish best served cold but Juniper had never liked cold meals. They symbolized every misery that she had gone under Dursleys.

She had learned it the hard way that sometimes opportunities never spring again. You might be very late if you are waiting for a tomorrow where you can choose rationally and wisely. It had happened with Pettigrew and the Elder wand.

She had also learned that moving headfirst into situations without proper appraisal could solve problems but came at a cost. You just had to ensure that you could live with the cost.

The thing was that gone was the good girl Juniper. Gone was the naïve person that Dumbledore thought he had molded. Gone was the standard spell of expelliarmus.

Cordelia Faye Black would gouge your eyes out if you threatened to harm her family. And if you touched Tom…. if you touched Tom, you could pray to any deity you knew of, you won't be spared of the consequences.

Carrow's room had a standard ward, much like any Slytherin. Privacy and cautiousness ran in the house but Carrow was neither creative nor cunning to put up a ward that would take effort on her part, or too much time as she dismantled it. Carrow was simply in Slytherin because of his supposedly pure blood and baseless ambition.

It took but a moment and a flick of Cordelia's wand and the ward bended to her presence. Removing the ward was foolhardy, no it was much neater to bend the ward. She could enter the room, do whatever she wanted and leave and no one would know. The ward would remain in place and there would be no trail, no evidence that something had stirred and actively influenced the hell Carrow would go through.

She was covered in her Invisibility cloak as a precaution though the entire dormitory slept in bliss. A little nudge and comfort from magic was all it took to make everyone fall into a blissful and restful sleep.

She opened the door gently, creating no noise and entered. The room smelled of stale whiskey, and smoke. Carrow was collapsed in his bed, fully dressed, drooling a little on the side.

Leave it to Carrow to indulge in other addictive substances. He had almost made this too easy on her. If anyone investigated his case for foulplay, all they would need to discover is his history with hallucinogens and alcoholism. Any story he told them would get dismissed in light of his addictions.

Cordelia did not plan on spilling his blood, or causing him pain right now. In her six years as an adult, Juniper had learned patience and the benefits of carefully laid plans as opposed to impulsive torture spells.

While immediate torture brought instant relief, a planned torture satiated your nerves like…

Liquor bottles littered the floor and filled bottles were stacked in one corner. She spiked all the new ones with a weak poison. It would not kill, but the discomfort and unease would be unbearable. And the rate at which Carrow drank, well…respiratory depression would be least of his concerns.

While getting medical aid would save him and cure him, it was the period of suffering that Cordelia was after. And the poison was laced with a mild muting draught, try as he may, Carrow would not be able to scream for help. The poison Cordelia chose was also very notorious for immediately blocking the motor signals of the body. His movement would not completely disappear but will be hampered and it would take a lot of movement to create significant noise, movement that would not come easily nor without agony.

People will not miss him simply because everyone knew his drunkard ways and propensity to miss classes.

Cordelia also threw in the rune of silence on all four corners of the room. Academically inclined students would use the rune to drown out outside noise and to block any oral rehearsal they did. If Carrow claimed that he had not put them, they could just have been legacies from graduated students. And they were tiny and thin, easily missed unless you were looking for them.

This room would be a cage where he would suffer. The poison would eventually be defeated and excreted out of the system through sweating in about 3 days. The loss of water will be accompanied by thirst, an insatiable thirst and Carrow will not find water in his room. His parched throat would again reach for alcohol as no one would come for his aid.

Hogwarts elves were forbidden from appearing in the private rooms or dorms of the students at their behest. Apparently, a great many purebloods had tried to take advantage. Now, the charter of Hogwarts was amended and an elf would come only in the common areas and would only follow neutral orders. The only reason they obeyed Tom and her was because they were more than students.

The next phase was finding out the stash of his potions. Every rich pureblood always brought a store of basic potions from their homes: pepper up, pain relievers, burn salves. In Carrow's case, Cordelia was sure that she would also find Hangover cures and a few other questionable varieties.

Now, the potions bottles would be neatly labeled. However, she knew that Carrows used the apothecary in Knocturnal Alley over the one in Diagon. And that seller used black opaque tiny bottles to sell the potions. It was just easier to smuggle nasty potions that way. The black color hid the potion color and to detect the potion, you actually had to pour a little of it out of the bottle. Smelling, touching or tasting a potion was a stupid move, so when you sent hundreds of small bottles, it got a little dicey to detect the illegal potions.

There was a bill in place to regulate the kind of bottles that potionmakers should use for supply but it was stuck in bureaucracy because as illegal this practice was, several pureblood families were beneficiaries of the opaque bottles. Just like it served the purpose of several purebloods, it would serve her purpose. Carrow would be unable to recognize the potion that she intended to replace.

Carrow's trunk likely had a blood protection. She went up to him, nipped his finger with her dagger and fed the trunk.

Carrow did not even stir. Cordelia had simply requested the elves to serve a few recipes that used a lot of salt and sugar in dinner. No student would complain. Mixed with alcohol, it was known to make you a little thirsty. And everyone in Slytherin knew Carrow only ever drank from his flask of alcohol. Water was beneath him. In his desire to quench the thirst, Carrow might have indulged in more alcohol than usual. And considering, he already drank more than thrice of the reasonable intake, his blacking out was not at all surprising.

The stash of bottles had hangover cures as predicted. That would be the first thing Carrow would reach for after quenching the thirst with alcohol.

There were 5 bottles. Cordelia nicked 4 of them. She did not think Carrow would even realize the theft considering his perpetual inebriated state.

The contents of the last bottle were spilled on the ground and an absorbent paper completely dried it.

Cordelia filled it with a pitch black potion.

The potion had been an accidental discovery. Not in an ancient text or civilization, but in the black magical market of Romania and Ukraine, known for its dragon supplies. Ukraine smugglers had suffered from a lot of ill luck in the last decade of 20th century. The entire market was dominated by the Romanian Kingpin.

The cause of it: the potion that Carrow would drink.

The ill luck was not coincidental. A Romanian, eccentric destitute orphan had tried to create a better version of felix felicis, one that would have a prolonged effect without the toxicity and would bring him extended good fortune.

He had ended up creating the black cocktail that brought everyone who drank it, a very bad luck. He failed in his attempt to create a better potion but he won a good fortune regardless because the Romanian Kingpin stumbled across it and saw the value of the potion and made the orphan his main potions master. The Ukrainian market handlers had been put on an endless supply of what the Kingpin simply called 'Black luck'.

Of course, Ukraine did not exist as a sovereign nation in this time, and the orphan who created this potion would not be born for another few decades.

But the fact was that Cordelia had once been Juniper and Juniper, on one of her few visits to Charlie Weasley, had met the Kingpin when her presence had inadvertently disturbed his business. Nothing scared low life thugs more than the defeater of a dark lord.

The kingpin had unsuccessfully tried to feed her the potion but the entire meeting was a series of unfortunate events for him. He had underestimated her on the onus of being a young witch and she had him and all his lieutenants on the mercy of her wand in about 7 minutes.

Few things deterred a fully grown magicae.

In exchange of sparing their life and not mentioning the little spat to anyone, she had wiggled out the recipe and his entire stock of the said potion from him. She swore that she would not tell anyone about the potion.

And she had not. Not to Draco and not to Sid; definitely not to Hermione. She was tempted to tell George about it, keeping his love for quirky things in mind but she had refrained from giving in to the urge.

But her promise had not stopped her from feeding ICW a trail of information and warning Charlie Weasley of the presence and tactics of the smugglers, without mentioning that spat. A win-win for everybody.

Because that potion gave the Kingpin an edge, she was sure that he would not reveal its presence to any authority.

The potion had been safely stored in her potions store. She had never been so angry at anybody to literally feed them bad luck, but Carrow was a special case and he really deserved this special treatment.

After his nightmare of being trapped in his room for nearly 3 days, he would drink seven spoonfulls of 'Black luck' and his remaining week would also go downhill. He would have too much of headache to register the taste or anything.

She would not even have to stage accidents. The world would do everything for her.

She simply added a timed spell that would vanish the bottle after 3 and half days, leaving no evidence.

Now, for the final touch, she pulled out a pouch, identical to the one Carrow had dropped in the Alihotsy draught and left it in his potions stash. The difference was that this pouch was empty.

But Carrow would understand the message. Whatever was happening to him was planned and he would not be able to prove it, because proving it would mean admitting dropping the pouch if not throwing it in the potions classroom. For admitting to any of the crimes ( manslaughter and attempted murder respectively), he would be tried as an adult because he was 17. His status as the heir of an ancient and noble house would not help as he had endangered the lives of 7 heirs excluding Tom.

He would wish that he were dead by the time her plan was done with him if his ill luck did not just lead to his death.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

Wednesdays were good days. The week was almost done, she had no Dumbledore and the dinner almost always had a chocolate pudding.

While she had a special tooth for Treacle tart, chocolate had not been far behind in her list. When you were a woman, you discovered the joys of a good chocolate recipe sooner or later.

As Lyra Greengrass stared at her for taking a second serving, Cordelia merely raised her eyebrow at her. All the other women had stopped paying attention to Cordelia's eating habits.

When you were abused as a child, you tended to eat a tad little more when you actually got good food. While this body had memories of plentiful meals of Cordelia, it also had the habits of Juniper. Unfortunately, this time looked a little contemptuously at women who ate more than their supposedly 'delicate' frames could allow. Cordelia was usually mindful but this was chocolate. She had been unable to resist.

While her female cousins and a few others had accepted this part as one of her charms, Greengrass still could not get over it.

Honestly, Greengrass was not bad. The family was grey in their leanings and had always been a cautious but gracious bunch. The lord was fine, the heir was also fine. Unfortunately, the lord had the ill fortune to marry one Crabbe.

Now, Cordelia only had to meet her Great aunt Irma a few times to discern the flippant attitude of Lyra Greengrass. She had fortunately inherited the looks of Greengrasses, but had the somewhat dim tendencies of the Crabbes. A little stereotyped combination when it came to women. Beautiful meant dumb and smart meant ugly, when none of it really was related.

Truthfully, Cordelia had only ignored the Slytherin women in her year and Greengrass because their pretense of superiority grated on her. Colette was just as feminine and beautiful as they were, perhaps a tad bit more; and Cordelia got along famously with her, perhaps because Colette was kind; while these witches saw anyone who did not conform to their ideal as 'other'.

It was quite similar to her avoidance of Lestrange, Carrow and Parkinson. It was quite similar to her irritation with Walburga at her occasional policing or her exasperation with Evelyn's properness.

Cordelia was not against the femininity of those girls, she was just against the system those women insisted on upholding, as if their femininity or beauty held them higher than anybody.

So, she met the stare of Lyra Greengrass head on. Lyra's eyes flickered to Tom for a moment and then back to Cordelia.

So, that's why she was a subject of interest to Greengrass now. Greengrass had made it abundantly clear that she was trying to snag Tom. And everyone knew how inseparable Tom and Cordelia were. It irritated Cordelia a little bit but she was mostly amused by Greengrass' attempt at trying to catch his attention. She could not blame the girl. Tom was considered a catch and women of this time were raised to snag 'good' husbands. And nobody knew about Tom and her yet.

The 'men' were currently discussing the weather. How utterly 'original' of them? The conversation mostly centered on the rainy, 'depressing' look it had taken. How they could not wait for summer to get to their good, old estates? How Tom should visit them sometime to see their charms? Cordelia would sooner eat kidney pie than partake in the façade.

Of course, Greengrass could not resist any chance to catch Tom's attention.

"Surely, you are not inviting Lord Slytherin to that hovel, Rosier. He would be much better off coming to the Greengrass estates? We have the finest Aethonons across all Britain. It would be a delight to tour our orchards with him as our guest." Greengrass smiled demurely.

Alphard and Anastius attempted to stifle their laughter at the obvious attempt of flirting; at least they understood that normal charms would never work on Tom. Orion gave Lyra an odd look, Rosier looked offended and Abraxas tried to glance around helplessly as if praying for the occurrence of something to diffuse the situation; he really did hate conflicts.

Cordelia relaxed back and put in another spoonful of pudding in her mouth as she watched the show. She would rescue Tom if need be but this was just too enjoyable.

Before Tom could rescue himself off the situation, or one of the men, especially Rosier could retort back to the insult, Walburga stepped in, "Finest Aethonons in Britain? You should have invented a more convincing trope Greengrass! The best Aethenons in Britain are owned by Gamps whose family has held the breeding mares for over 3 centuries now. Lord Slytherin is already familiar with the best of them as he stayed in Black estate over the winter. Lady Black is also the eldest sister of Lord Gamp, surely you did not forget!" Walburga gave her a haughty look as she placed down her cutlery with precise movements. Greengrass jumped like a scared cat at the attack.

But Walburga was not done, "And even if he does take up your offer, what 'delightful' orchards would he visit; the ones that produce the venomous tentacula or the one that produces mandrakes or perhaps the one that produces the Devil's snare? Surely, you did not forget that your family's fortune comes from supply of the finest and most dangerous herb based ingredients across Britain. A brush with death would be a more worthy descriptor perhaps, definitely not a tryst with delight." Walburga patted her lips with a napkin in her sassy yet classy manner.

Anastius and Alphard dissolved into poorly concealed laughter. Abraxas hastily stuffed more pudding in his mouth as his eyes widened in shock and mirth. Orion looked at Walburga in a seemingly new light. Rosier was too amused to behave appropriately. Cordelia was still eating a small spoonful of pudding as she enjoyed the look on Lyra's face with a twitch on her lips. Tom, after a small moment of contemplation, followed her example. She did not blame him; it would be difficult to top Burga's insults. It was much more entertaining and easier to revel in it.

Greengrass was gaping at Walburga with wide eyes as if she could not believe the insult as Walburga adjusted her cutlery brazenly, too unbothered by Greengrass' astonishment.

Greengrass kept gaping, as if expecting someone to rise up to save her, defend her and the Slytherins sitting nearby either couldn't either care less or were enjoying this hysterically. Lestrange might have been sympathetic if he was sitting anywhere near them but he had taken to avoid Cordelia as much as he could and her female yearmates were still wrapping their head around the conversation so any retort from them would come real slow.

The silence was really very dramatic. Tom and her eyes met and Tom's lips twitched as he noticed her amusement but both of them quickly went back to the pudding. One did not simply ignore chocolate pudding in favor of drama.

A small clinking sound drew all of their attention away from the faux pas at the Slytherin table to Headmaster Dippet, who was standing beyond the Head table.

" **Morgana have mercy!"** Tom hissed under his breath as his palm found her free one once he was finished and nestled it comfortably between his palms. Cordelia drew comfort from the fact that he reached for physical contact with her without too much thought.

Cordelia finished the last spoon of her pudding, patted her lips in a manner airily similar to Burga and turned a little towards the Head table to Dippet.

"Five years ago, as per the suggestion of Potions master Slughorn, we began the Annual Showcase where students from different houses and years are encouraged to come together and to put up several magical spectacles. We have had excellent feats of magic, beauty and grace as students come together in the previous years. We hope that we will see similar efforts this year. The rules will be posted on your House notice boards and the event itself will take place in the second week of May. You roughly have two months to come up with literally anything that demonstrates magical prowess. The winning team and every extraordinary effort will win accolades and points for their house and an award from the school. We hope you make up proud." Dippet announced to the generic sound of clapping.

Tom and her eyes met again as the rest of world drowned away. They had given the showcase some thought but not overly much. They had much bigger concerns but as they had discussed; a fun project that brought people together would boost the morale and make more cohesive ties than bantering in a court could ever do.

They returned to the world as the clutter of students got up and chatter increased and decreased as students trudged back to their common rooms.

They had scheduled a court meeting tomorrow to address the showcase. They had been planning for it but they did not want to have the meeting before the announcement.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

He had just emerged from the bathroom when he heard light whispers from Cordelia and Jormy.

" **As fun as watching it would be, you cannot enter that room. We don't want them to pin it on you** …"Cordelia gently reprimanded the snake as Jormy, predictably, grumbled. The snake was currently wrapped around Cordelia's torso, likely clinging to absorb Cordelia's warmth.

"Enter where?" Tom could not help but ask.

Cordelia gave him a considering look as Jormy appeared guilty.

"To wherever you disappeared Sunday night…" Tom quickly concluded.

"Would you hate me horribly if I confess to get even with one of our housemates rather questionably?" Cordelia said carefully.

"I doubt anything could make me hate you." Tom said seriously, reducing the distance between them and moving closer to he gently pushed one of her ringlets behind her ear and kissed her forehead gently.

As their foreheads rested against each other in comfort, Cordelia slowly spoke, "I just paid the person who sent you that envelope in kind."

Tom froze.

"I was angry. I still am angry and I got even." Cordelia's voice trembled with emotion as her bright eyes looked upto his, as they glistened with water and pearls of tears rolled down her cheeks against her struggle for composure and before Tom realized, his palms had encased her cheek and he was burying her head in his chest. Lia rarely cried. In fact, Tom could count the number of times she was really sad on one finger and all of them had been on behalf of other people.

"You have been curbing my murderous intentions against Lestrange for so long, Lia. Surely you realize that I would be the last person to disapprove of whatever you did, as long as it does not put you in harm's way. And you are smarter than that anyway…" He gently caressed her hair and kissed the nape of her neck.

Jormy had slithered away from both of them, giving them some privacy, as she chased Nyx and Lux across the carpet.

"Will it come back to haunt you?" Tom gently asked.

"I have accepted the hand of enmity from one of the houses. There is no going back from that. But otherwise no, there is no possible legal case against me." Cordelia said slowly.

"But it was Carrow who offered the hand. You simply replied back in kind." Tom said pointedly.

Cordelia gave him an alert look.

"I am not naïve. I saw him throwing the pouch in Potions and I suspected that the envelope was from him. Since I got Renatus, I thought it was only fair that you get Carraw, especially considering your fury." Tom accepted lightly.

Cordelia rose on her toes and pecked his nose affectionately and Tom smiled and returned the peck.

"I am going to take memories from Dorea. I am sure that they would be very entertaining." She said nonchalantly.

"I am sure they would be." Tom nodded and suddenly hissed, " **Jormy, stay clear of the fire…you will burn yourself."**

" **I want to see the memories too. Swear it, swear it!** " Jormy excitedly hissed.

" **Of course you know what Lia did.** " Tom said amusedly.

Cordelia rolled her eyes, " **She is more homicidal than both of us put together. I had to promise her that it would be very painful before she decided to drop the plan of biting off his face."**

 **"** **He cannot do anything to my master. Only I am allowed to do that but perhaps you as well, nestmate."** Erin flicked her tongue.

" **Her name is Cordelia."** Tom said pointedly as Cordelia's cheeks flushed in amusement and embarrassment.

" **But this is your nest?"** Jormy looked at him questioningly.

" **Yes."** Tom answered slowly, looking very suspicious.

" **And she lives here and sleeps here with you**." Jormy said superiorly, raising her neck elegantly.

And before Tom could interrupt her train of thought, she had barbed out, " **So, that makes her your nestmate. I don't know master, are you really well if you cannot see this plain logic**?" She sharply smacked her tail on the rug and leisurely sunk into one spread blanket.

" **How would you like it if I call you snake instead of Jormy?** " Tom asked, already very irritated.

Cordelia was stifling her laughter.

" **That is a deplorable address."** Jormy raised her nose in annoyance.

" **And nestmate is not**." Tom asked sarcastically, wildly gesturing with his arms.

" **Of course not! Nestmates are precious. She will be with you forever. She should be honored that I find her worthy enough to let her spend time with you.** "She prattled on as if she could not believe how silly Tom was being.

" **You find her worthy enough! You realize she owned you and now, I own you because she gifted you to me. I am your master and by extension, she is your mistress!"** Tom repeated back in disbelief as Cordelia started laughing.

" **That is what I said. She is my mistress because she is your nestmate. Ergo, master and his nestmate**." Jormy tilted her head in contempt. She had definitely picked that habit from him.

And Cordelia dissolved into more raucous laughter.

" **I can't believe I am losing an argument to a snake."** Tom muttered in annoyance and stomped one foot. Cordelia took that moment to do an Aww and wrapped her arm around his head comfortingly and kissed him full on his cheek and lips.

Then she bent down on her knees in front of Jormy and met the eyes of the she-snake, " **Jormy, behave. Is this how a good familiar, the mighty Apophis behave?** " Cordelia asked as if speaking to a child.

" **It is not my fault that you chose a stubborn master for me? Ridiculous…** " Jormy turned away from Cordelia, ignoring Tom's rolling eyes.

Tom was ready to pluck the snake from the floor and …

But Cordelia was very patient, " **Jormy.** " She said warningly.

" **I am not stupid, I know my name is Jormy. There is really no need to repeat it so many times.** " The snake said drily.

" **I know you are not stupid and so does Tom. Which is why I want you to listen carefully: your personal example does not necessarily translate to everybody. Nestmates might be a very important title in reptiles and even in humans, but it is not a reference that I am entirely comfortable with.**

 **"What Tom is trying to tell you is that my identity goes beyond being his nestmate; I am a person too, just like him so when you constantly refer me through him, you are reducing my personal agency. I would not mind it if you refer or see me as his nestmate occasionally, even if you are teasing because I am his nestmate and I hold a certain pride in that and a little bit of teasing is harmless.**

 **"But it is also wrong to assume that I am** ** _just_** **his nestmate. It would be like reducing you to a rodent eater. You do a great many things beyond rodent eating. You sit out in sun, you have fun, you are smart and sarcastic, you watch over the kneazles for us and so much more. Yes, rodent eating is an important trait and necessary part of your consumption, but it does not entirely define you, does it? So, do you understand why Tom is vexed at your constant use of nestmate to refer to me?"** Cordelia explained patiently.

" **Well, there is the reason why I approve of you, Mistress. You are smarter than that useless over there**." Jormy flicked her tail towards Tom, and added graciously, " **Very well, I shall only call you his nestmate when you irritate me too much by eating each other's faces for too long. That should be acceptable."**

Tom tried not to look like that, but he knew his face gave away how impressed he was. Jormy was very difficult and that Cordelia had managed this feat was no less impressive than anything she had concocted up for Carrow.

He did not even protest when Jormy called him useless. Useless, his foot. He really could not believe that the snake whose only job was sitting and warming itself by the fire was calling him, the lord of Slytherin, the King of Hogwarts court useless.

He blinked gingerly. That snake was really very spoilt and he had had this realization just too many times in the past few days now.

" **Good girl!** " Cordelia gently patted Jormy's head with a smile. Tom could not help but smile at Lia's obvious pride.

" **Will you get me a whole deer now?"** Jormy preened and asked excitedly.

" **Don't sweat it that much!** " Tom's smile faded and he immediately accused and complained against the snake, " **That is what you get for being nice to her."**

" **I don't know, I could annoy you more master."** Jormy hinted slyly.

Cordelia's smile widened as her eyes glinted **, "You know Zephyr and Quetzl are looking for a third companion for flying. They could pick you in their claws and take you out for regular rides. It would be exhilarating, don't you think?"** She mildly suggested.

Jormy was excessively afraid of heights and the claws of predator birds. Her mischief vanished as dread appeared on her face **, "You wouldn't?"**

 **"** **Wouldn't I?"** Cordelia asked innocently.

" **Be grateful to her."** Jormy snapped at Tom and slithered away to the nursery, all the while hissing under her breath.

Cordelia and Tom restrained their amusement and together moved to pick the drowsy and mewing kneazles and gently tucked them in their blanket laden basket as the door to the nursery shut itself.

"Looks like they are sleeping here today." Tom lightly said as he caressed the forehead of Lux. Cordelia had settled down and was humming a song as the eyes of the kneazles began closing. Tom settled behind her and wrapped his arms around her.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

She and Tom had retired to bed and she was currently reading him a piece of French literature. Tom understood some French and she had been teaching him more sparingly when he had desired to learn more. The easiest way to learn diction was to hear and repeat it; hence the dive into French works.

They had now moved to more complex texts. She was currently reading out a few pieces of poetry from Victor Hugo. While Tom understood most of it, it was still a bit of struggle for him to pronounce them. But he was constantly trying to do that despite their jam packed schedules.

"Enchanteur?" Tom commented but his eyes had a questioning look about his diction.

Cordelia nodded with a smile as she snuggled further in his shoulder while reading the last lines of the poem.

"This sometimes feels like a dream." Tom confessed after a comfortable silence. When Cordelia rose herself and met his eyes as he turned his head towards her, he just touched her forehead with his, "I don't know what I would do without you Lia and it is…I sometimes feel like…I don't know I… I don't know...what if this is not real? What if I am dreaming because you and everything around me is not less than a dream? What if I am…what if I am actually sleeping and I wake up back in that orphanage?" With his each confession, Cordelia's arms tightened her hold over him and her eyes grew watery but she did not shed her tears. No matter how much she related to this confession, this was not about her. This was about Tom and his insecurities, his fears of having anything real or good forever out of his grasp.

"I thought similarly when I got my Hogwarts letter until I forced myself to accept the decent reality. But what really convinced me was the fact that no one seemed to like me in Hogwarts. I mean if I was dreaming, I would have concocted a better reality surely. I knew how creative I could get. But everyone hated me, or was indifferent.

"Slughorn was cordial because of my prowess but maintained distance to avoid incurring the wrath of other heirs, Merrythought offered praise occasionally but you know how dry she is, Tofty was too busy keeping the Hufflepuffs safe from Slytherin spells, Garrison was too new, Warrick was too busy trying to keep us awake and Murphy never paid attention to any first year who was not a godly flier or too bad at it and I averaged in flying. Dumbledore, he tried his best to turn others against me.

"The only one who was kind was Madam Underhill and I hated her, I hated her because she saw me when I was weak. I was cursed so many times, by Slytherins for being a mudblood, by other houses for being a weak snake and no one… no one stopped…. until I started fighting back. And I resisted fighting initially thinking that if hurting me made them amenable, made them happy, then I would stay hurt, just as long as…. And no one ever truly cared until they became afraid of me….and I did not want that either but having people fear me was better than staying hurt.

"No one really cared until you came and so casually included me in everything. I was convinced that you were a concoction of my head because nobody could care about me just because I existed. I know you later said that you found a kinship with me that led you to befriend me but you never treated me differently from the moment you laid your eyes on me. You were so respectful and kind and I tried so hard to hate you….but I couldn't, I couldn't stay away from the one person…." Tears had sprung out of Tom's eyes and before Cordelia realized what she was doing she had tightly wound her arms around him and pulled his head to her bosom.

Tom took a minute to regain his composure and then lifted his head and stared at her and smiled a watery smile, "So, I thought it was a dream but then it grew, it expanded until you utterly had reserved every space of my heart. I resisted it so much, because I was so, so afraid. But you proved me wrong, you proved me wrong every time I questioned you, doubted you, alienated you, threatened to harm you. But I could never ever really stand the thought of you hurt, hell; I could not stand the thought of your sad face, your smile absent, your eyes vacant.

"And then you got hurt, and I realized, I realized that even though I only knew you for a short time, I couldn't breathe in a world where you were not happy, where you were not teasing me, challenging me right from the side, where I could not see those bright eyes and that wide smile directed at me. My heart died, it died over and over until I saw you pressed against me that day. I did not believe it. It was so hard to believe it and when I yelled at you for nearly dying and you so kindly and compassionately apologized even when it was not your fault, I knew, I knew you were alive because as creative my mind was, it could never ever create something to match the warmth that you hold in your eyes and arms.

"I have wanted to tell you how much you mean to me ever since, through my eyes, the way I held you, but I never could. Not when you brought me the locket, not when you introduced me to Jormy, not when we spent my birthday in that carnival, not even when I told you that I loved you. You are my life, my light, everything good in this whole world and I don't know what made you enter my life, but I will always be..." Tom was cut off because Cordelia had jumped on him, shedding tears.

"Lia…" Tom's panicked voice filled her ears but she kept crying.

"I did not mean to make you sad…Lia, don't cry…" Tom had seemed to forget his pain as he wrapped his arms around her hysterical body.

"I am not sad." She said indignantly separating from him and hitting him with her fists, "I am happy. And sad, and gosh, I love you so much, you prat, you…. loveable twat." And immediately dissolving into fresh tears and hugging him again, "I am allowed to be sad on your behalf, okay. If I could curse every person who came in your life before me, I would. You might be a twat, but you are my twat and nobody is allowed to hurt my twat even though I did not know my twat until…" She continued sobbing into his chest for some time.

When Tom did not say anything, she quickly removed herself from his person and stared at him right in the face, all sobbing forgotten, tears still rolling down his cheeks, "I did not choke you, did I?"

Tom returned her stare, while hers was laced in embarrassment and worry; his was laced in disbelief and affection.

And before she knew, she was encased in Tom's arms, pulled in his lap as he smothered her in his kisses.

Tom was never one for speaking for his feelings especially when he could show things through his actions and she dared say that the kissing or snogging that followed was endlessly passionate and saturated with their love.

* * *

 **Hello Dear Readers,**

 **Apologies for the delay. I spent a lot of time with this fic, finalizing a lot of details about the wizarding world that was in 1940s and prior. It takes an awful lot of time to create over 200 characters and family names and trees. I am utterly exhausted as I tried to keep up with it.**

 **Unfortunately, this chapter required some detail from that, not most of it but I just kept going and going because I was in a world building mood. For an updated directory of characters, please refer to my Profile. I will keep adding stuff to the directory as the story progresses but everything is almost completely finalized. I am just not putting it up because most of it will come forth as I tell the story. I will only put the dry details on the profile, so that it can be used as a quick referral in case of confusions.**

 **Alternatively, I also thought about attaching the directory as an Appendix update to the story so that people do not need to go to the profile page. If you would prefer that, let me know.**

 **There is a small change from the previous directory where Callidora Black was a cousin of Altair and Arcturus Black and now is a sister, which makes Sebastian Longbottom a first cousin to Cordelia, Dorea, Orion and Alphard.**

 **The Chapter is again over 10000 words and it is one of my personal favorites. So, I am hoping for some good comments.**

 **Expect the next chapter update in the same date range, that is, 20-25. The delay, if any, won't be without due cause. Thank you for your patience and understanding.**

 **On another note, I am currently making a note of plotholes and inconsistencies in the story so that I can correct them in a go. I do have a list but if you remember any, please feel free to PM me. Apologies for not getting back on the reviews, I treasure each one of them but I cannot always get back to them timely.**

 **Also, I absolutely loved Fantastic Beasts. OC versions of the characters will be appearing in the fic in future, though not for at least a dozen updates. The characters might be referenced before that. I hope people would have watched it by then (summer?), so that I can avoid spoilers because I would hate to do that.**

 **Also, while this fic liberally uses information from Pottermore writing, it does not neccesarily stick to the canon. While I have liberally picked character names and stuff, I have mashed them together to create elaborate family trees. For instance, in canon, Dorea is actually aunt of Orion, Alphard, Walburga, Lucretia and Cygnus. In my version, she is a cousin or sister. Wherever it deviates from the canon, you will find it noted in the Appendix (on profile). Apart from using exisiting characters, the list of Hogwarts students is entirely made up.**

 **A very Happy new year and hope everyone had/is having good holidays.**

 **Lots of love,**

 **Katoptris**


	36. Chapter 30: Black Luck

**Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Marauder's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

4) **THE RATING OF THE FIC HAS BEEN CHANGED TO 'M' because of slightly more graphic descriptions of Violence. It is mostly a safety measure and does not contain anything triggering yet. Future updates will carry warnings of triggers, if any emerge in the course of the story.**

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" **Parseltongue"**

* * *

 **Previously**

 ** _Evelyn meets Lux and Nyx and discovers that Tom and Cordelia refer to themselves as Mummy and Daddy. Walburga now tolerates Eve's presence. Tom gets attacked numerous times by Carrow and is thwarted each time by Cordelia until he manages to trick him with a fake Gringotts' missive that had bubotuber pus and Poison ivy. Tom gets second degree burns on his fingers which are healed over the weekend. Cordelia stays with him and handles mundane tasks like feeding him or lifting things for him. Cordelia plans her vengeance against Carrow. She puts a weak poison in his alcohol supply that would result in suffering of three days and then a deep thirst so that he keeps drinking. She nicks all his hangover potion suppy and just leaves one bottle filled with 'Black Luck', a potion that has the opposite function of felix felicis and does exactly what its name says, inflict a very bad luck on the drinker. Tom discovers that Cordelia got even with Carrow and does not mind at all. A hilarious conversation with Jormy occurs. Tom confesses a little bit of his feelings to Cordelia and some details of how Hogwarts was before she came._**

* * *

 **AUTHOR NOTE: This chapter sees introduction of several new characters. Refer to an amended directory of characters on the Author profile in case of confusions.**

* * *

 **Chapter 30**

 **Black Luck**

 **Cordelia's POV**

She and Tom had made a point of remaining notably visible on Thursday. They had a late night on Wednesday with their making out and had been tempted to go and take naps in between class breaks but Cordelia had told Tom that things would occur and they should be placed somewhere where many people, specifically renowned heirs, could vouch for their presence.

So, they had attended all classes, attended all meals in great hall and had encouraged Alphard's noisemaking subtly to remain visible.

After classes, the easiest way to remain seen had been to be in the library where everyone would be. Even though the court was yet to address the showcase, people had presumably started researching already.

So, that is where both of them were, with additional people.

Tom was working his way through another Slytherin journal, while Cordelia coached Charlie and Edmund Bones on the exact wand movement of the Reducto curse and the arithmancy that had gone in its crafting. Merrythought appreciated interdisciplinary approach to Defence and both of them really wanted to get a good essay grade and Charlie had been familiar with Cordelia's research into spell crafting.

Dorea was doing her Herbology work, Lucretia and Titania were finishing up a Charms essay, Sebastian and Walburga were discussing the finer points of breeding magical owls for a class project, Burke and Tiberius Odgen were discussing a recent Wizangamot session; Evelyn and Mary Abbot had convinced Amara Tufts to sit with them at the 'Court' table and the three witches were having a serious conversation about the history of gobstones with the Gobstone Club president Eileen Prince.

Albeit Cordelia had not had much opportunity to converse much with Eileen Prince in the first term (because Prince was a recluse), she had managed to coax the witch to join their circle even if Prince preferred to remain silent. She and Evelyn tempered each other with their quiet tendencies.

They also had other similarities, especially that of being the only daughter of a rich, noble line despite the lack of a magical linage on Evelyn's family tree.

"I wonder what is keeping Abraxas." Cordelia mused in a whisper.

"Even Alphard and Zabini were supposed to be here for help with their potions assignments. I don't have time to spare if they are going to be this tardy!" Dorea huffed.

"Calm down, Dorea. I dare say that Alphard and Anastius are mighty afraid of you and would not be this tardy in absence of a pressing reason. However, if they are, just stick them up with for a lesson about preciousness of time with Lia. It worked like magic with Flint when he insisted on impeaching on Burke's time a tad bit recklessly." Tom said absent-mindedly as he swiftly noted down something from the ancient journal into his personal ledger.

"Oh, even saying magic is an understatement. It turned Flint into a polite and nervous first year as he asked for assistance in his…" Burke trailed off in search for a respectable word that captured what he wanted to say and he finally settled on one with a spark in his eyes, "endeavors."

"That is a fine word for a request to cheat off your assignments." Charles Potter scoffed to general sniggering and laughter.

"You Gryffindors, you literally blurb out anything, don't you?" Burke shook his head in mock condescension, "We are more careful with our choice of words in Slytherin."

"Talk about yourself, the hack who made sure Flint did not flunk everything." Cordelia said in a mocking tone with a cheshire grin, rather carelessly as she went back to drawing an arithmancy based diagram of the wand movement that Charlie and Bones could copy.

"Or the glorious gentleman who enabled Flint's incapability to think anything original beyond Quidditch!" Tom added with a smirk, momentarily looking up from his work.

"Oh! You two are terrible." It was Dorea who admonished.

"Blame your cousin, her influence runs rather deep." Tom immediately shifted the accountability to Cordelia as something else captured his interest in the journal.

"And that tells you why he is the Lord of Slytherin." Edmund Bones smiled, shaking his head.

"Are you really willing to incur Cordelia's wrath to avoid Dorea's mild whatever? Dorea can be stern but Corrie is scarier." Charles exclaimed in confusion and surprise as Dorea rolled her eyes.

"What are you talking about Charlie? I complimented Lia." Tom shrugged, and then went back to his journal.

Everybody exchanged looks until Cordelia chimed in, "Being terrible is a compliment, and the fact that I corrupted the proper and unyielding Tom, there are no kinder words." She gave a mocking demure look to illustrate her 'properness'.

"You are incorrigible." Burke said with an uncharacteristic reprimanding look to Cordelia, which made her flutter her eyelashes back at him.

"You are just stroking her ego, Herbert. She takes pride in being the opposite of well behaved." Tom pointed out astutely as he gave a fond, amused look to Cordelia.

"No, I just interpret being well behaved differently." Cordelia said thoughtfully, but carelessly added, "But I am very sure that everyone is going to disagree with my interpretation."

Tom, Burke, Sebastian, Charlie and Bones snorted. Odgen, Dorea and Titania were smiling ear to ear. Lucretia, Tufts and Abbot dissolved into giggles. Prince had an amused look about her face and she also wore a rarely seen smile. Evelyn's eyes were a little popped as she considered me. What was surprising was Walburga's light chuckle.

"And this witch will teach Alphard and Zabini the value of time." Sebastian noted with amusement. He did not register the warning shaking heads of Dorea, Charles and Burke. Tom gave Sebastian a look that said 'you have no clue'.

All amusement faded away from Cordelia's face as her face transformed into an indecipherable mask and she considered Sebastian, "Just because I am a free spirit does not mean that I do not comprehend the necessity of basic consideration and respect to others."

"I did not mean to offend." Sebastian offered with a wince.

"None taken." Cordelia replied easily and then offered a fake smile to everybody "But if anyone has a spat with Ian and wants to deliver him a sound thrashing and lecture about anything, consider employing my services. I shall do it free of cost gladly. It does not even have to be a real issue, and then we will see if he doubts my disciplining capability. And if you can, pass the word on. The more, the merrier!"

"I should tell you that your mother's temper is a cute bunny in comparison to her." Walburga offered Sebastian with fake pity. Callidora's Black's temper was a legend.

"True that." Lucretia shook her head as she probably remembered.

The color of Sebastian's face left.

"I cannot believe you forgot how she disciplined Dumbledore. Alphard and Zabini are mere ants in front of him." Edmund Bones pointed out.

"Gryffindors tend to miss obvious things." Dorea shrugged helplessly.

"Hey…" Charlie looked at her in hurt and outrage.

"You have no idea." Cordelia intoned as the rest of non-Gryffindors nodded in affirmative as they probably recalled various things and incidents.

"Is this a gang up on Gryffindor day?" Sebastian asked weakly, "If it is, I would like the opportunity of hiring a shield?"

"Who would you hire?" Tom asked, not looking up from his journal.

"Who would agree to get hired against Corrie?" Dorea corrected.

"I was trying to not give away the advantage Dorea" Tom said in mock hurt, "It would have been quite entertaining to see him squabble about, trying to get somebody to champion for him before realizing that nothing is wrong with him; people are just terrified of the Black Heiress."

"I would not be surprised if she becomes the boggart of somebody." Odgen mused.

"The best would be when years down the line, they use the legends of the Black heiress to convince children to go to bed early." Walburga pointed out in a bland tone with humor in her eyes.

"Are you scared now, 'Ian'?' Titania mocked him with a grin.

Sebastian opened his mouth and closed it again.

"Scared of what?" Abraxas' tired voice filled their ears before the table could burst into a loud, raucous laughter.

"Perhaps the librarian? She is…" Orion just shook his head as he, Alphard, Anastius, Pierce Nott, Luther Pritchard, Winston Travers and Marvin Jugson joined Abraxas from the behind. Their sight immediately distracted people from the joke.

'Ms. Hopkirk got an urgent missive from the Headmaster that made her leave. A Staff meeting of sorts…" Ogden supplied, "So we have been using that to full advantage but that is beside the point."

"What kept you?" Cordelia asked, her alert eyes already taking in the haggard looking appearance of all her housemates and cousins.

"Well…" Pritchard began to say and at the same time Nott said, "Don't ask".

"That horrible?" Tom mused, "Did Slughorn rope you into volunteering to plan the decorations for his Spring Equinox party?"

"How did you guess?" Zabini gave him an incredulous look.

"Seriously, that is like a month away." Titania said in a similar tone, only the target of her incredulousness differed.

"He was looking for scapegoats even in the class. Tom and I scurried off before he could nab us." Cordelia shrugged.

"That is not the only thing." Abraxas said seriously over all the fun that was being aimed at Slughorn.

His serious expression quieted down the table immediately.

"You know the reason for the emergency staff meeting?" Cordelia presumed.

"Quite intimately." Abraxas agreed at the same time as Travers who muttered, "I wished I did not."

"Settle down…" Dorea said as she and Charles waved their wands to bring and rearrange more chairs around the desk. Meanwhile, Tom waved a wand to erect a privacy bubble blocking any sound, as Cordelia casted a Muffliato as an additional measure to keep away prying ears.

"So, all of us did get roped in by Slughorn for the decorations because we were all in the common room but when we were in office discussing the stuff, female Parkinson entered and hysterically made a commotion about an accident and we all just rushed." Abraxas told but he trailed off…

"I am surprised you don't know Dorea, you do have classes with Carrow." Winston Travers noted.

"If you mean the way the buffoon managed to charm his Corn-ears to breathe fire like dragons on his face instead of making them waltz, then it was totally the fault of his drunken haze." Charles rolled his eyes.

"Garrison is making you waltz them?" Sebastian looked amused.

"Preparation for the showcase, Dumbledore had us transfiguring hay into pretty laces, did you forget already? Moving on..." Walburga dismissed his amusement in her impatience as she looked eager for more news and firmly looked at the new arrivals.

"Carrow did look more drunk than normal today. He had a stagger in his step and his speech was slurred when he greeted his cousin Noah." Bones mused.

"His intake has gone up since the conception of the Hogwarts court. Slughorn wrote him an ultimatum about his attendance yesterday, which is why he even made to the classes today. As he was not included in Hogwarts court, he has been raging on by drinking more and missing tons of classes because of that." Nott simply supplied.

"Which is stupid because the biggest reason for not including him in the court was that he cannot stay away from his thrice damned flask. We cannot have a perpetually inebriated courtier. What kind of example does that set?" Cordelia scoffed as Tom nodded to show his agreement.

"Nobody blames you or Lord Slytherin, believe me." Luther Pritchard offered with a twitch of his lips and added, "I would not hold high hopes for Dorea knowing something Winston, because I too had classes with Carrow till the end and I was caught off-guard too."

"But he managed to burn his face?" Tom raised his brows, "Even for a drunkard that is…"

"Another level of idiocy." Marvin Jugson completed firmly.

"Even Frobisher did not get himself into that kind of accident in his entire stint at Hogwarts, and his family's interest in pyro techniques is quite notorious." Odgen mused.

'Well, Garrison is rather equipped with handling charms accidents and was able to fix and prevent damage even though Carrow kept accusing him of dangerous teaching." Charles Potter said and shook his head.

"That is not the only incompetent thing Carrow did today. We had Binns today. The maximum amount of danger in that class is of being bored to death." Dorea proclaimed indignantly and table went into a round of laughter and smiles and Dorea allowed herself a smile before continuing, "And he managed to get his notes, his face and his books tattered by charming birds. Xavier Lovegood was trying to study the flight patterns of the 'Goldcrest' birds by conjuring them. They are positively harmless and non-violent and were trilling throughout the class. Nobody minded because watching them was more entertaining than Binns' lecture. Carrow was presumably getting irritated by the chirping noise because he was nursing a hangover. Carrow attempted to vanish them, at least I think so, and for some reason yelled Opungo and charmed the birds to somehow attack himself. Lovegood attempted to help him but Pucey shoved him out of the way and tried to vanish the birds and his and Carrow's second spell met and resulted in a blast. Everyone else had thankfully already taken cover because the birds grew carnivorous teeth, turned into some tiny monsters and ended up biting them all over…."

"Including some rather delicate parts…" Pritchard helpfully added.

"Julia, his betrothed, was in hysterics but Luther and I managed to vanish the birds and then Carrow had the gall to snap at us." Dorea informed.

"So we left them to the kind mercy of the cold floor." Pritchard added with a roll of his eyes.

"Tough luck, Underhill was at St. Mungo's today. They could have used your healing." Cordelia snorted.

"Carrow understandably twitched all through the last class of Herbology which Parkinson had trouble understanding because he had bunked history of magic. His injuries and drunken haze (because he kept on drinking from the flask) made him very inattentive. Unfortunately, we were in Greenhouse 3 today. Instead of listening to Tofty's instructions of staying away from a designated area, he did the opposite and ventured near the magical line. A venomous tentacula was nearby and Carrow managed to get hit with several of their darts. Tofty thankfully keeps the antidote at hand and rescued him. The lesson continued but Carrow still kept drinking and had a bout of nausea and started puking near the Mandrakes who grossed out at the stink despite being buried in mud and started screaming, unearthing some mud. Tofty created a sound shield and ushered the rest of us to leave which everyone including Parkinson listened to." Luther told the story with great leisure and enjoyment.

"So, no, there is no other 'accident' that I know of. Carrow was stupid enough to drink more than….and then he paid the price by causing that ruckus. Tofty likely got the mandrakes under control and Carrow ended up unconscious and will end up getting detention and …he really deserves a detention at the very least." Dorea huffed.

"But that is not the only thing that happened, Dorea. We missed the best show." Luther said regrettably.

Luther Pritchard did not get on with Carrow and Parkinson who rubbed their seats in wizangamot against him so Cordelia was not very shocked at his obvious bemusement at the turn of events.

When everyone stared in wonder, Abraxas began telling, "So, as it happened, the screams of Mandrakes did manage to make Carrow unconscious. Thankfully, he did not die because Tofty was fast enough to pour mud where it had dislodged and the mandrakes, despite being fully grown could not shriek fully. Unfortunately, Carrow had been vomiting when he passed out. So, Tofty was afraid that he might choke on his own vomit. Tofty quickly cast a rennervate and cast a spell that sprouted out all the vomit to prevent any of it from slipping further into his lungs. After the disgusting turn of events because vomit also came out from his nose and even from his ears…" Abraxas trailed off as everyone got disgusted and confused looks.

Tom looked at Cordelia, who was apprenticing in Healing under Madam Underhill, for an explanation.

"Ear, nose and throat are connected. The Eustachian tube connects the ear to throat and is usually used for maintaining ear pressure. The tube does get infected in case of throat and nose infections. So in cases of flushing out lungs magically, the flushed substance can possibly use that tube to excrete itself out apart from the mouth and nasal pathways; at least theoretically; but I have not heard of a possible case where it has actually occurred apart from this. He must have had tons of alcohol poisoning and a lot of vomit in his system for that to occur because magic must have felt the need to force a way. The tube is very delicate, thin thing and this entire debacle likely burst his ear drums too and infected his ear tract." Cordelia explained with a wince but without the disgust apparent in everyone's faces.

She was less grossed about bodily fluids including vomit because of her training in healing. Simply put, you could not afford to be squeamish if you were expected to treat it. But even she could sympathize with the pain that the debacle would result in.

"I did not know that but I will take your word for it." Abraxas said in acknowledgment and moved ahead with the story, "The putrid smell, likely because of the presence of vomit in his nose, kept him puking and utterly nauseated. His ear drums did indeed burst and even his balance went wonky because of extra liquid in his ears and he was disoriented and agonized but Tofty is not a slouch and managed to stabilize him temporarily, so Carrow was not in danger of dying and in relatively less pain and discomfort.

"It took Tofty some time to do that because he is not a healer but after a temporary relief and stabilization, he instructed Carrow to lie down there while he used the nearest fireplace to call Madam Underhill back from the hospital because Carrow needed more medical help. He was wary of moving him because of his delicate condition." Abraxas took over from where she had left and swiftly informed all the facts.

"That was gruesome." Walburga shuddered and pinched her nose, "Vomit from your ears and nose…"

"We have not told you the worst part yet." Pritchard interrupted her reaction sardonically.

"Get it over with; I still can't shake my eyes, imagining that…." Anastius shuddered.

"What more could have happened for it to be worse? Is he alive?" Bones wondered in an exclamation.

Abraxas again began filling them in, "The venomous tentacula was trying to break free from the petrifying spell of Tofty, Carrow saw that, got scared and made a run for it, only to realize that he had left his wand inside the greenhouse. Now, normally he is a coward but it was the question of his wand and his pride got in way so he went back inside for it after realizing that the tentacula was feigning being free by twitching, only to find his wand tangled in the vanes of a plant. He stupidly tried to dislodge it, not registering that he was battling for grip against a fully grown, humongous Devil's snare, so while the snare wrapped itself around Carrow's torso through his arms, it also managed to break his wand into two and toss it to the nearest flower bed which had Chinese chomping cabbages which easily shredded the broken wand.

"The destruction of his wand was just the icing of the cake because the snare pulled Carrow into the warded area of the Greenhouse where Tofty and his apprentice were working on a project that involved experimental breeding of plants under an approved Grant of Herbology Guild and Hogwarts board of Governers. Apparently, the shriek of mandrakes can weaken wards in a certain temperature and pressure and the greenhouse somehow had that rare anomalous condition today, so the wards were weakened and just a tug from Devil's snare managed to break the ward and take Carrow there. Hewl and Tofty together concluded that when they investigated because the ward was not tempered externally.

"The warded area had a Fanged Germanium cross bred with a Snargaluff and so the snargaluff pods had tiny vicious germanium flowers instead of their pus and they managed to bite off two of Carrow's fingers, apart from giving him multiple bleeding wounds all over the body. Since he had no wand and had a devil's snare around him, he was defenseless against them." Abraxas told swiftly.

"Now, at the other end, Julia got worried about Carrow when he did not appear in the common room, so she tracked down Perseus with the help of Aimee and asked for his help in search. Pucey was held away because Julia was upset at him for the fanged birds' incident." Orion supplied.

"So while Julia and Aimee checked out the Hospital wing or the staffroom or Tofty's office, Perseus took the route to Greenhouse where the 6th years of Slytherin and Ravenclaw had left Carrow. He arrived in nick of time and saw his friend's finger being chomped away and after casting a rather strong incendio tria along with a summoning spell, he managed to separate Carrow from the plants, and both made a run for it before the plants could attack again…"

"He lost his fingers…"Sebastian's eyes had popped out as he whispered in horror.

"They might be able to attach them if the fingers were preserved timely." Cordelia swiftly gave a questioning, concerned look.

Abraxas shook his head in pity.

"Tofty was busy instructing ghosts to look for you Corrie because he was unable to get to Madam Underhill. Then he did get in touch with her and they convinced another healer to come aboard. But for another healer to come through, they had to make an auror report because Carrow endangered others with his reckless drinking and they also had to rule out suicide as a motive. So, he got delayed and never reached the greenhouse, and Carrow never went back after…" Orion supplied the actual information

"I don't blame him entirely for that, it was a frightening situation." Titania pointed out, "But Carrow is a craven, even for a Slytherin."

"We have not covered the worst part yet." Pierce Nott said quietly.

"What more could have happened; the devil's snare would have broken bones and his fingers were cut off and likely eaten by a plant?" It was Charles who had wide eyes and was looking at the new arrivals incredulously. Though, his expression was mimicked by the rest of the table including Tom and her.

"Carrow did not go back for the fingers because he did not have the ability to go…' Alphard began saying, but his voice trembled.

"Affy…" Cordelia said in concern at the fear in his eyes.

"Carrow, in his run, after running a distance realized the agony is his leg. His right shin bone, which had cracked presumably from the hold of Devil's snare as Charlie pointed out, broke into two pieces under the pressure and weight from the fast running; rupturing his muscle, flesh and skin as the bone poked out. He likely had broken ribs and broken arms too. He fell down in a heap. His cries of pain and Parkinson's urgent yelling likely served as a beacon for Julia and Aimee.

"But they had not arrived even after a couple of minutes, so Parkinson tried to help Carrow by putting a splint and/or stretcher. He is not particularly clear because he was a little drunk too and panicked as well, but his panic and the almost torrential rain outside was a bad mix. Just as he was casting the spell, his steps staggered, he slipped on the wet ground and fell. His spell had a surprised yelp in between and he completely botched the wand movement and the wand was still aimed at Carrow."

"Don't tell me. That would have…" Tom's eyes were wide.

"Been a catastrophe." Ogden completed with a deathly and serious calm.

"And a catastrophe it was." Abraxas nodded with a wince and informed them gravely, "Parkinson's botched spell managed to vanish every bone in Carrow's body. Every single bone….And he fell on top of Carrow too, dislodging organs from their places and causing internal tears of several organs and muscles and tissues…"

"That is grotesque… and horrible." Cordelia blinked her eyes in disbelief as her face gave away her confusion regarding what would be an appropriate reaction. Her stance was mirrored by most of the room, only others had right bit of fear, pity and disgust laced in their expressions.

"Parkinson's horrified screams got Julia and Aimee there and their collective conundrum caught the attention of Tofty, the additional healer and Underhill who were on their way the Greenhouse 3. But the situation was beyond them as well because the healer's specialty was poisons and even Underhill, she was just too shocked….So Aimee called Slughorn, Julia went to the staffroom as the three elders tried to stabilize him. That is how we got there. The verdict was that anything they did could potentially harm him, any magical transport would…" Abraxas trailed off.

"I can only wonder…even moving me with a magical coma could have harmed me. He does not have any bones, his circulatory and nervous system could….I do not think that even if the ghosts had managed to find me..." Cordelia blabbered.

"Underhill immediately shot down Dumbledore when he suggested getting you because she did not want you to see the scene. It was a situation beyond the skill of several experienced healers; you would not have been able to do much except feel traumatized. Even we were not supposed to see anything. We did catch glimpses as Professors tried to block the view but Julia's and Aimee's cries as well as Parkinson's dazed and guilty blabbering filled in a lot of blanks. And well, Nott managed to cajole Slughorn into telling us the whole story. Dumbledore used Leglimancy to extract the details from Carrow's mind at the healer's behest and told the entire summary of events to the Professors. " Abraxas immediately put her at ease while giving away more information.

"So, the ultimate verdict was that he needed St. Mungo's even at the cost of more damage so they used a strong body binding spell and sticking charm to bind him securely onto a hospital bed, made that bed into a portkey and took him to the hospital. This entire debacle is strictly 'need to know' though and Lord Carrow has requested discretion and the aurors have complied. But you know Slughorn…" Nott supplied and shrugged.

"Of course, Lord Carrow has requested 'discretion'; it was his heir's stupid drinking problem…" Walburga said nastily, not even feeling the need to finish her sentence.

"And if the word got out…"Jugson pointed out ominously. Bones nodded in concurrence.

"Wait, are they checking his room?" It was Dorea who asked.

"I presume so. Hogwarts has pressed charges against him for endangerment of life, property and a few others, so DMLE is involved and is investigating. That is where Hewl and Tofty's statement about wards came in. Lord Carrow's only saving grace would be silencing the situation and paying the fines in lieu of whatever has occurred. I am not sure if Albert will be expelled because the only school rules he technically broke is drinking." Travers shrugged.

"He won't be expelled. Expulsion lies in the hand of headmaster and Dippet is too big a coward to do it, especially while incurring the wrath of a Head of an Ancient and Noble house. Board of Governors can step in under exceptional circumstances and while none of the heads serving as governors are going to look kindly upon Carrow's deeds, I think we all know very well that Noble houses do not make a move against each other unless under extenuating circumstances. An Heir drinking a lot is frowned upon but is ultimately going to be dismissed as folly of youth.

"There is also the case that Carrow is likely to be in hospital for a long time, probably the entire term. He will live but the healing process is going to be long, difficult, tedious and will likely rely on trial and error. Re-growing bones is painful and takes time and considering that his entire skeletal system has vanished, it would take a great deal of time to grow bones and ensure that they do not poke internal organs while getting attached to appropriate nerves, veins and arteries and cover the appropriate organs as the growth goes along. Most of the times when we need to regrow bones; we have some sense of what goes where because other bones are present as a reference. This would be a quite uncharted territory.

"On top of it, they will also have to ensure that the nerve connections survive that long because they die when left unused, and prevent internal bleeding, and substitute something for his bone marrow which is an important part of immune system and blood production. He would also likely need a lot of exercise and practice to get back into a working body if it even goes back to normal. It would be like learning every movement again. The pain and discomfort that would accompany each step is punishment enough, leaving aside the ridicule and shame he would face once the word of his incompetence goes out because there are bound to be stories.

"Also, considering that Lord Carrow would supply the school with a lot of gold through fines and donations, I don't see them expelling him. The school can always use more funds; a drunk, incompetent student is a small price to pay. It is not a huge leap to think that Lord Carrow would also 'donate' funds to Ministry so they are going to sweep it under rug too, considering the only one truly harmed was Carrow and the school, which filed the complaint will be satisfied with the funds too. The only factor I am not sure about is Dumbledore. He has a penchant against Slytherin but he also indelibly believes in second chances. But as he is not the headmaster, his opinion counts for a lot less. Even though he usually can influence Dippet's decision to a great extent, it won't work if he goes against the Board of Governors. So, there is no hope for advocacy of expulsion from him as well." Cordelia voiced out, quickly pointing out the possible outcome.

"Could not have put it better." Ogden agreed with a shrug of his shoulder. The rest of them shared looks of contemplation. Tufts and Abbot looked positively horrified and pale. Evelyn's lips were pressed in a painful, pondering manner. The Slytherins and the heirs also knew better than to give away their emotions too openly and mimicked Evelyn's neutral pondering stance.

"Why were you interested in his room?" Sebastian looked curiously at Dorea, referring to her earlier question.

"Well, Julia and Carrow are betrothed since the fourth year. It is considered inappropriate in her family for her to venture into his room after 6 in evening unsupervised and well, one day Carrow was sitting in library and asked her to fetch something from his room in the yester October. The nearest and the most amenable person in common room was dear old me, so she convinced me to accompany her to his room. Let us just say that if the present state of his room is anything like what I saw nearly four months ago, the aurors would gather a lot of incriminating evidence." Dorea informed with a dark look.

"Does he know that you have been in his room?' Cordelia's sharp eyes looked at her.

"No, and I don't plan to testify, so the House of Carrow can…" Dorea refrained from completing the curse.

"Why wouldn't you testify?" It was Tufts who spoke, her face filled with curiosity and confusion. She came from a humble muggle background unlike Evelyn, so the high politics did not probably make sense to her as intuitively as it did to Evelyn.

"Well, the politics of noble houses is very complicated. Usually, they stick together. If they disagree with a venture, they would still ignore its existence rather than report it or protest it. In fact, if you do the two things, you are seen as consorting with the outsiders and that does not gain you friends and you are likely to be ridiculed and ostracized in the noble house equations. Charlie, forgive me, if I use the example of your grandfather and the Evermonde family?" Cordelia gave him a questioning look and Charles nodded with an eager grin as if the incident amused him.

"So, during the first world war, magical britian was faring under better circumstances. We enjoyed good relations with every nation. The then Minister of magic, Minister Evermonde felt that it was prudent to steer clear from the muggle war to preserve the interests of magical Britain and preserve the statue of secrecy. She had a list of reasons and everything." Cordelia talked to the muggleborn gently and apologetically added, "Most noble houses do not care much for the welfare of muggles so her decision could have glossed over and nobody would have cared."

"But grandfather disagreed and protested publically in the Wizangamot." Charlie said quite proudly, earning amused and patronizing looks from Slytherins and a gentle chuckle from the puffs.

"He did. While the decision was not overhauled, a lot of people actively and openly broke the magical law and aided the muggles in several ways including our grandmother Melania. She donated a lot of food and clothing. The sentiment echoed through most magical houses was that British muggles should triumph over the Axis muggles. Wizards fought on several fronts posing as muggles. The current senior undersecretary to Minister Spencer-Moon is one such person, Theseus Scamander. He is also the elder brother of Newton Scamander, the author of _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_. The effort was largely ignored by the department of magical law enforcement and in fact, such stints later earned such magical citizens the coveted title of 'war heroes'." Cordelia enjoyed regaling the piece of history to her, "But that is beside the point, my apologies for going off track." Cordelia smiled sheepishly at her realization as Abraxas shook his head at her fondly.

"But basically Evermonde is an ancient and Noble house, just like Potters and while Blacks and other noble families disagreed with the decision of Minister Evermonde, they did not engage with it publically while dismissing it privately. But the house of Potter did engage and protest the movement publically." Dorea informed Amara.

"And because of that, the Potters were left out of the list of the sacred pureblood families in a pureblood directory even though; they are very much an ancient pureblood family. It was the talk of the town." Walburga said wryly.

"And the talk of the town was a right bit of hogwash from Slytherins, because the directory also left out Evermonde family, which has traditionally been Slytherin. Slytherins protect their own; it is almost a house motto. But coming back to Evermonde family and their fate, as it happened that when the family got into bureaucracy, that is, a ministry role, it failed to recognize the superiority of opinions of the noble houses which had been in favor of helping the muggles. Evermondes paid a price for it all the same. So, yes, it is all for one and one for all in the nobility, unless you do not conform to the ideals." Cordelia rolled her eyes.

"So, yes, it is not a wise idea to report the contents of Carrow's room unless he breaks the honor code of the noble houses or unless the DMLE detains you for keeping information from them which is unlikely to happen in case of a member of an ancient and noble house." Bones informed Tufts kindly.

"And of course, no one 'conveniently' really knows what the honor code actually says, so we just make up the interpretation as we go." It was Pierce Nott who pointed that out.

"While Carrow's 'laudable' adventures and shenanigans tonight will gain him a lot of flak in the internal politics of noble houses, like missing sending Carrows invitations for prestigious events and gatherings, ignoring invitations from Carrows, breaking business deals, gossiping, doing deals that harm them etc. etc, the noble houses are advised not to take the 'feud' outside of the nobility. So, not giving public statements, testifying and the like is expected." Sebastian put in his two shoes.

"I will not be surprised if Lord Avery is not looking to break the contract between Julia and Heir Carrow by the end of this." Charles Potter added.

"Good luck with that. Julia is positively smitten with him." Titania shrugged carelessly and then blinked as if she could not comprehend the reason for the smitten state.

"Smitten is a weak word." Walburga shook her head.

"Look at us, Gossip mongers…" Alphard chuckled.

'Talk about yourself, Alphard. We all are merely having enlightened conversation about political decisions and implications of certain unsettling events." It was Tom who shot down Alphard unapologetically with a smirk. He had not contributed to the political analysis but Cordelia was very sure that he had followed every word and gesture carefully. Tom was very observant like that.

"It is in the words one chooses." Nott agreed.

"Students will be looking for information in the meeting we scheduled for the showcase." Ogden pointed out, swiftly changing the topic.

'Well, it is too late to cancel it, Lia and I will simply have to address it in a manner that quells the fear." Tom nodded but offered a solution.

'What is there to fear? Carrow is already in the hospital and unless students are going to drink and enter greenhouse three, nothing is going to happen." Anastius pointed out with irritation.

"If fear were always this rational Anastius, then we would have prevented tons of wars and feuds." Cordelia simply said.

"And this is Hogwarts we are talking about, I am sure the grapevine is already talking and we will need to clear all that nonsense up. The stories likely talk about a plant transforming into a werewolf that somehow devoured Carrow, while a troll bashed his pretty head. And the worst part is that people would believe it." Sebastian waved his arms.

"I don't know Sebastian, I am pretty sure that you and Charlie sell the souls of poor, wretched cute little bunnies to the evil Lord of Slytherin and his diabolical sidekick Heiress Black." Cordelia said seriously.

Everyone stared at her before breaking into laughter.

"Now that is one I have not heard of." Travers grinned.

"Who would believe you to be my sidekick?" Tom asked in disbelief and exasperation, "Have they never seen you getting on my case about not drinking enough water?"

"Oh, you did not know. You and I have so far successfully partnered with goblins into entrapping a lot of witches into brothels, and we are also blackmailing and brainwashing tons of people into signing off their gold to us. Renatus is the only poor soul who sees through our reality." Cordelia informed him blandly as she packed up her stuff into her satchel.

"People do not seriously believe that crap." It was the slightly deep voice of Prince who asked that.

"People believe a lot of crap, 'believe' me Prince. Just yesterday, I cleared misconceptions that featured Cordelia as the love child of Adonis and Aphrodite, sent to cure the dread that had saturated Hogwarts." Anastius Zabini raised a brow and then imitated in a high voice, "She is simply too beautiful to be a mortal."

"They did not." Abraxas narrowed his eyes at him.

"Don't fuss Abraxas. I braved worse rumors in Beauxabatons. I was somehow perceived as a siren, a succubus, an incubus, a veela, a vampire, and a she-demon who preyed on the youth and beauty of others on at least one occasion. A child of Venus and Adonis is a compliment in light of those." Cordelia stopped him before he started to defend her.

"They did not." Alphard looked indignant.

"I am not surprised. Nothing fosters rumors more than jealousy and we all know what a prize Cordelia is considered among the pureblood circles. I am sure a veela or two got jealous or even one of those flashy French bints and a few wizards could not stand her advanced magic, so rumors it is." Walburga shrugged as she read something in the book in her arms, single-handedly making the conversation a hundred times more awkward and being blissfully unaware of it.

Nott, Travers, Jugson and even Bones looked guilty. And Cordelia's insides froze at the reminder of how objectified her existence was, even in the heart of a circle of people whom she interacted with on a regular basis.

"Well, she is more than a mere 'prize' and if people can't comprehend that in their puny little brains, then I will be glad to do the honors of enlightening them. I am sure a 'chat' with me will easily fix their deplorable attitude and mindset," It was the absolutely icy and furious voice of Tom that warmed her down to her every pore.

"Well said, Lord Slytherin." It was the quiet voice of Tiberius Ogden that broke the silence that fell around all of them, his eyes discreetly passing over every male who had worn the guilty look.

"Hear, hear." Orion smiled a kind and affectionate smile at her.

"Sebastian and I can flank you when you do that Tom." Charlie easily offered to which Sebastian easily nodded.

"Get in line, Charlie." Abraxas smirked at him.

"You will have to fight me to take the chance of the first curse." Titania shrugged.

"You do that, I am just going to go all muggle and punch that jackass where the sun does not shine." Alphard guffawed, ignoring the scandal on Abbot and Evelyn's face.

"While you do that, I and Pritchard can curse their line with something embarrassing. They can pay the price of reducing her to a prize for centuries." Burke mused as Luther nodded, likely thinking of long term curses from their interesting repertoires.

"I can think of a potion or two that you both could use with the spells." Prince added with a glint.

And just like that, warmth surged through Cordelia. Sure, they were jackasses who would insist on reducing her to an object, but there were also lovable miscreants who would fight for her right to be. The other woman just stared in wonder at the men who had supported her strive, perhaps wondering if their plight could amass this legitimate support too.

Tom found her palm and gave it a reassuring squeeze, as their eyes met, and hers shone in gratefulness and his looked at her in warmth, affection and protection.

If anyone else noted the sheen of her eyes, they ignored it in favor of cribbing about walking all the way to great hall for dinner.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

The Professors all missed the dinner likely still continuing the meeting on today's debacle. The Great Hall was alit with rumors, and Abraxas, Orion and Burke had to run interference to dodge the questions that were coming from left, right and center.

Tom and she had quickly finished food and left to prepare for the meeting. While they had the agenda for the showcase planned, the incident with Carrow would likely become the main topic of today's meeting and they needed an action plan to give away sufficient information to quell the queries while not giving away more than necessary facts.

Tiberius Ogden and she had managed to get a quick word with Dippet and the Auror head, Bob Ogden, Tiberius Ogden's uncle. Dippet liked them well enough and Ogden had been too miffed about his inability to take the case public, so he had told them as much as he could. Hufflepuffs always preferred fairness above any 'dealings'. While Tom, Ogden and she had already known pretty much everything courtesy of Abraxas and Nott's silvertongue, they still needed to maintain the façade of going to official sources.

Now, they were waiting in the court rooms to begin the meeting. The court was currently using a set of rooms kept aside from the time Hogwarts stopped teaching fine arts. While they usually conducted the meeting in what used to be the sculpting room, today the meeting had been moved to the dance ballroom because of an anticipated increase in the numbers of attendees. The meeting had been open to all of Hogwarts from the beginning but more people were bound to come now in light of the 'incidents'. The room was bare apart from a raised platform, probably once a very tiny stage for demonstration. It was already clean and maintained because the elves had cleared out the space when Tom and Cordelia had selected a few rooms for court and Knights' use.

Ogden and Tom were discussing something lightly at the side of the platform where she stood as well. Ogden was the head boy while Millicent Bagnold was the head girl for the current year. And she and Tom had ensured good ties with both of them. Of course, Tiberius was a gentleman and a really good soul. Bagnold was very witty and very ambitious and Cordelia reckoned she had probably been one of those hat stalls who had missed Slytherin by a small difference and ended up in Ravenclaw. But she was a very shrewd, mostly fair minded and good ally, albeit Cordelia could do without the mind games the girl liked to play.

While mind games with Tom had been fun, simply because it was Tom; Cordelia did not really enjoy Bagnold's take on them.

Bagnold was lightly engaged in a small talk with Dorea and Titania as the witches discussed the ascendance of Wilhelmina Tuft as the Head of department of International magical cooperation. The woman had a bright career and would probably be one of the prime candidates of leading the Ministry in a few years' time. Theseus Scamander was more of a field guy than politics and Pillwickle loved DMLE too much to leave it even for the topmost seat.

Cordelia was idly playing with one of her loose curled ringlets that had escaped from her ponytail as she wondered if Black luck was still coming in the way as healers attempted healing Carrow. The potion had been very effective, far more effective than Felix Felicis was for good luck and even the trajectory she had anticipated for it. And Carrow's punishment was so ingenious. She could have never been as creative as the entire debacle today. And the whole spectacle was so random and unpredictable. There would be nothing that they would be able to trace. They would not puncture the body to check for poisons because they would be too busy trying to keep the organs in place and by the time they would get to bloodwork, it would already have passed the system. Besides, even if they found traces of the potion, they would not be able to tell what it was. The recipe was too complex, so reverse engineering it was just impossible.

What happened to Carrow was grotesque and horrible. She had not been lying when she said that. However, she had never said that Carrow did not have it coming. She was sure that despite every grievous injury that had occurred, he would live. But he would live in fear, of her and Tom. Cordelia was quite gratified to recall that her list of worries was shorter by one item now.

Charlie caught her eye from across the room and discreetly pulled her attention with his darting eyes to across the room to the entrance from where Julia Avery was entering, along with Aimee Parkinson.

Perseus had been fed a calming draught and Dreamless sleep. She wondered why Julia and Aimee were spared the medical attention; perhaps they were reluctant to take potions from a man in their quest for maintaining propriety; because Slughorn was manning the infirmary till morning while Underhill was at Mungo's.

But she knew why Charlie had pointed them out. The presence of the two witches was a problem. If possible, the meeting got even more delicate. Tom and she will have to be very careful with their choice of words. While none of their plan had involved bashing Carrow or Parkinson, they had thought that they would be able to take diplomatic liberties of a few subtle but well aimed jabs at the competency and decision-making of the two wizards.

But Avery was an injured snake; she would not differentiate between the levels of threats and would just retaliate at any insinuation that portrayed her betrothed in a remotely bad light.

But the thing was that Tom and she could not afford to _not_ warn students of consequences of bad decisions. (Tom did not know how things had occurred and he was wise enough to not question her until they were absolutely sure of privacy. A visit to Chamber of Secrets was in order.) The thing was that everyone thought that today's events were a drunken accident and while Board of Governors might excuse drunkenness as the folly of youth, Cordelia and Tom did not want to be so kind about it. Too many times, rich and well-connected men were pardoned for their catastrophes with a mere slap on their wrist instead of proper disciplinary actions and Tom and her entire manifesto depended on fairness of situations and opportunities for everybody.

Also, they had to separate this incident from the series of accidents against Charlie, her and Tom. Their accidents had been tragic and they wanted them to seen that way, but by clubbing Carrow with them, Carrow would get the benefit of being a martyr and that was unacceptable to both of them. No, Carrow's incident was a well-deserved consequence of his ill choices, his cockiness, and his bull-headedness; and she would make sure that the whole of Hogwarts looked at it that way.

So, by not antagonizing Avery, if they undermined Carrow's mistakes in today's meeting, they would be falling in a trap. But if they publically disowned a known heir for his shenanigans this early in this game of politics while his allies were present, they would be giving their hand away too early.

They would need to tread carefully.

In eight minutes, the door to the rooms will be shut until the meeting ends. The ruling council was very intolerant about unpunctual persons and interruptions. Of course, people were allowed to leave in case of emergencies but the principle was that if you choose to attend a meeting, stick till the end.

Her eyes went over the other female courtiers. From Gryffindor, Jade Marks was a promising muggleborn from Sebastian's year. Penelope Gambol was another addition from the lions. She and Tom had passed over Augusta Fawley as an appropriate courtier, simply because the stiffness of the witch was a little over the top. There were other knights from the house but not a female courtier.

Hufflepuff had Coral Yeats, Abigail Macmillan and Lois Applebee as female courtiers. Helen Podmore had been a possible candidate too but Cordelia had ultimately decided that the girl was too separate from reality to partake in politics. Mary Abbot had too soft a skin to brave a court full of men, so both the latter witches had been roped in other roles with Knights.

Ravenclaw had Trinity Gore, Garnet Ettington and of course, Milicent Bagnold. Cordelia had been tempted to add Vance and Burbage but both the women, though intelligent were a bit timid like Evelyn. They were simply designated knights until they gained more confidence.

Slytherin had been the tough one. It was easily the house with most courtiers, simply because too many politically active and noble houses were a part of it. Choosing women who would not be a part had been tricky. Dorea and Titania were obviously in. So was Prince, simply because of her status as the heiress of a Noble house and there were no factors besmirching her name like the heirs of Carrow, Parkinson or Lestrange. Cordelia herself was a female from Slytherin, so that accounted for one more member of Slytherin than Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff and two more than Gryffindor. If only McGonagall had not turned them down, Cordelia mentally gritted despite having predicted McGonagall's rejection. Cordelia had been tempted to include Virginia Frobisher in place of Minerva, but the girl was a third year and while men from third year were in court, Cordelia had been hesitant to invite women from that year. Not because of Ageism, but simply because she wanted them a little trained before they stepped in the arena of politics. Men were taught the ropes of it from a young age, women not so much. Come next year, Frobisher, Meads and Cole were definitely going to enter the court if not before.

But today, these women courtiers were not the only women present. Walburga and Lucretia were here of course. Apart from that, Greengrass, Avery, Rowle, Bulstrode, Cole, Meads, Umbridge and Parkinson from Slytherin were present. Ravenclaw had Bode, Savage, Evelyn, Lockhart and Wildsmith. Hufflepuff had Abbot, Vector, Edgecombe, Crickerly, Fleet and Thikneese. Gryffindor had Brown, Tufts, Markham, Doge and Fawley. The most problematic were all Slytherins (but her cousins and the two third years) and of course, Fawley might create trouble but Cordelia doubted it. Brown was a gossip monger and could mean trouble but was a bit thick to discern Slytherins pulling the string.

Her eyes met Tom and she received a barely perceptible nod. He had likely gone over the women as well and decided that while there could be trouble, they would be able to handle it. The attendees from men were always predictable, most of them showed up in open meetings and both of them were prepared to handle anything, already used to handling the most able manipulators in Slytherin.

Women were trickier simply because Tom and Cordelia were uncertain about who all were going to show up. Every single absence or presence from women changed the group dynamics because they were usually a smaller group than men and today was not much different.

She and Tom gave a nod to Alphard and Burke, standing by at the gate. Both closed the door and joined the crowd at their signal.

It was a gentle clink of her Heiress ring and Tom's Lord ring in synchronization against a water goblet that Tom conjured, which caught everyone's attention as the crowd adjusted itself and fell quiet. Dorea, Tiberius and Milicent had already left the stage to stand in the near front.

"Greetings of the evening." Tom said and Cordelia simply nodded towards the crowd.

"What exactly are you greeting us with on this evening; merriment or joy?" Avery spat, her eyes bloodshot with crying and rage clear on her face.

"A greeting is simply a greeting Ms. Avery. I had not meant to offend. Despite every circumstance, it does not help if we become rude and forget basic courtesies. I am yet to say anything to insinuate my sadness or my joy." Tom simply replied back. This had been an easy comeback, Cordelia knew that if Avery kept channeling her emotions, it would become too easy to dismiss her logically but she had to consider the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs in the crowd who could be swayed by the emotions, instead of logic.

"I understand that the priorities of student body have shifted since the evening and we have readjusted our agenda as per the events." Cordelia said carefully, "While the rumors abound have likely informed you of the occurrence of events near Greenhouse 3 today, I think the unreliable information could never do the justice to be as factual as the truth. The information is classified. Lord Slytherin, Heir Ogden, Ms. Bagnold and I are already in contact with DMLE and the leadership of the school and are ensuring that a reasonable statement outlining the events briefly is disclosed officially by tomorrow evening. However we understand the anxiety amongst the students and would like to address any concerns you have to the best of available resources and information that we are permitted to give away," Cordelia stared the crowd right in their eyes.

 **Tom's POV**

It was at times like this that Tom wondered just how Evan Rosier had pegged Lia as a Hufflepuff. She was too devious and cunning. If whatever had happened to Carrow was not sufficient evidence….which it was and Tom had exhausted every single strategy she could have used and had come up empty as to how she had managed to stage the series of events that had ended up taking Carrow in a long-term ward. It was too random. Sure, she could have put up a compulsion charm on his flask to ensure drinking but that was an amateur move and Aurors would have been able to tell that right away, so he was sure that she had not put a compulsion. Even if she had used that though, that compulsion did not explain how the ward of greenhouse 3 fell or how Parkinson botched the spell that vanished all the bones. Even if he took a leap and rationalized that Cordelia could have manipulated the ward, as she studied them in depth and because of her father, she could not have ensured that the mandrakes would shriek in that controlled manner. She would not put Dorea in danger like that by unleashing them and she could not have ensured Tofty's reactions.

And of course, Parkinson's botched spell was too random.

And she had not strayed more than a single foot away from him throughout the day. He supposed she could have used the time-turner and her invisibility cloak to great effect but he did not buy that.

Her surprise had been real, even though she was a very capable actor with caliber to fool him.

However, she had also said that she had gotten even with Carrow on the weekend and had not disappeared for more than 20 minutes where he was not sure about her whereabouts since then. The time turner could not go back that back in time and there was no way to travel forward in time yet. Tom was really stumped about how she had managed it. He supposed she would tell him if he asked. He just needed an opportune time to do that and hence, the query would have to wait. Tom had some other plans for tonight.

But Tom was getting off track. Of course, nobody but him knew that what had occurred to Carrow was planned. Well, apart from Cordelia and Jormy.

But, Rosier could not deny Cordelia's Slytherin tendencies by observing how she addressed the meeting. She carefully mentioned a shift of priorities without acknowledging what the priorities were. She had said the rumors did not do justice to the truth without getting specific about what she thought was the truth. She had conveniently reverted the responsibility of limited information to an unknown factor. She had ensured the crowd that they were already working on it, while mentioning Ogden and Bagnold to give them credit but also to soothe people who took more comfort from school appointed heads as opposed to the Ruling Council. And of course, if they were negotiating with DMLE and leadership of school and they were amenable to release the information tomorrow, then it was very clearly not them who wanted the information hidden.

Tom could go on, but he needed to get back to reading expressions of people rather than analyzing Lia's words. She would ace the meeting; that he knew.

"What happened?" It was Tristan Fawley, the heir to the house of Fawley who asked. He simply sounded curious. He was laidback and could not care less about Slytherins except for what they did in Quidditch field. He was in the court but he was always disinterested. No, this query came at the behest of his elder sister who had likely nudged his curiosity, which meant that Augusta Fawley did not want to directly engage with him and Cordelia. Well, that was one less thing to worry about.

"I am yet to open the court for questions as I am about to give a basic collection of facts that I am allowed to give away, Heir Fawley." Cordelia gave him a kind smile with a nod and then addressed the crowd, "Please exercise patience while Lord Slytherin and I clarify the positions."

"Madam Underhill was unavailable today because she had to accompany a student to Mungo's. We are not at liberty to disclose the details, but the notification appeared on all House boards yesterday night. Slughorn was to be contacted in case of minor infractions and if the situation was a dire emergency, students were asked to contact any Professor who would contact Underhill. In case of not being able to reach a Professor, students were asked to contact the Prefects or the Heads. All of this was detailed in the notice and it was very visible in all common rooms. Another copy was also stuck at the infirmary notice board and all the respective stakeholders were properly notified," Cordelia informed.

There was a strategy to her storytelling. She was highlighting the availability of accessible resources before the actual incident, which would give students less time and material to raise objections to. Because objections could only be planned once they heard their version of events. And by keeping them waiting (because Hogwarts students were not very patient), people would get a little agitated; making mistakes once they got to questioning. And of course, she was giving them details that their questions would center around in advance, why no mediwitch, why no information. Impatient Hogwarts students might be but they were also predictable to the fault, which made this, all the more easier.

"For those that do not know, Professors of Hogwarts hold masteries in various subjects and while they are teaching, they are also encouraged to research. Professors Merrythought, Kettleburn and Tofty have had several research assistants and apprentices in past who work with them. Tofty is currently mentoring his 14th apprentice and his mentorship has never had a fatal accident in record. His work in Herbology ranges from cross-breeding to selective breeding, you can find a list of his publications with the Herbology guild, who has him in a panel of its best herbologists for the last two decades. All the experimental work that he does is restricted to Greenhouse 3. His current particular projects have been granted and cleared unanimously by the board of Governors." Cordelia continued nicely.

"Get to the point." Alfred McLaggen sneered.

"How do you know what my point is and if I am making it or not, Mr. McLaggen?" Cordelia shot back exceedingly calmly.

"Everyone already knows. Carrow was attacked and you can get to that. No need for your flowery Slytherin machinations." Mclaggen snapped back.

Cordelia simply raised her brow delicately at him and easily pursued her lips and clapped her hand before fixing him with a pitiful stare, "I am afraid that is a zero on three, Mr. McLaggen. If everyone already knew, they would not be listening to me patiently." The silent 'unlike you' was very clear and a few sniggers went around at that. "Heir Carrow was not attacked and I would have to request you to not panic fellow students when you obviously do not know the facts." Cordelia was enjoying this thoroughly and she continued leisurely, "If my being courteous and offering complete information is flowery and Slytherin, then I am afraid that you are nearly accusing every responsible parent and upbringing. I am afraid that respectful language is a compulsory part of education from most parents. I don't know if you learned differently so I cannot really comment." She simply shrugged as more laughter went around the room and Mclaggen's face turned red.

Tom had to control his facial muscles really well because he wanted to cackle loudly, especially at Mclaggen's insulted face but it would not do. He needed to maintain a stoic face. But he did not go far ahead and curb the crowd's laughter, because even Ogden was chuckling lightly.

"Now, where was I before you caused this unnecessary delay? Aha, yes the Greenhouse 3 and the plants within it. The experimental area of the Greenhouse is warded and if everyone who has entered it recalls, Prof. Tofty gets almost overzealous in warning us away from it each time we enter it." Most of the people nodded at that, " As it happens, despite the countermeasures, Heir Carrow got badly hurt after his class of Herbology in Greenhouse 3 today… "

"You are enjoying this, aren't' you?" Avery again spat.

"When have I ever expressed interest in sadism?" Cordelia asked rhetorically, as if offended by the insinuation. This one was a slight gamble because Cordelia was not actually denying her interest in sadism; she was merely deflecting the question. But the chances were that people would not notice the little manipulation, simply because Cordelia was that lovable imp that had friends in all houses, frequently volunteered to teach fellow students irrespective of houses, had that adorable smile and spark in her eyes that made her very approachable. People could not associate sadism with that personality. And combined with the offended tone, it would do the trick.

And of course, she was offended. Cordelia was not merely enjoying this, she was ecstatic at the turn of events. To simply characterize it as enjoyment was offensive.

Avery just glared helplessly. Tom doubted that she had the strength to generate a proper comeback or the mental space to do that. Of course, Tom or Cordelia did not point out that her frequent interruptions were rude and disruptive, particularly because they were baseless. People would see this as signs of kindness and understanding from her and Tom towards Avery's grief, while they would dismiss her as an emotionally distraught blab.

"As I was saying, Heir Carrow did suffer from grievous injuries after the 6th year Slytherin-Ravenclaw Herbology class, the details of which cannot be disclosed. Lord Carrow is quite protective of his charge and rightly so. I should also tell you that while the series of injuries he got did begin from the Greenhouse, most of the blame lies with the current weather. Heir Carrow was quite nauseated, presumably feeling under the weather by the efforts he had made to keep himself warm, and in his brain fog, he ended up near the ward line. The ward in the greenhouse also fell in combination with an anomalous weather condition and the incident which caused the most injury to him also occurred on the trail leading from the Greenhouse to the Castle as he and heir Parkinson attempted to return to the castle.

"Prof. Tofty was busy contacting Ms. Underhill for advice of Heir Carrow's sickness when all of this happened. Nobody can compel plants to attack anyone, they simply do not have the sentience for that and it is really natural for certain plants to be vicious and aggressive. So, once the ward fell, the plants attacked the nearest non-plant species. After their escape from Greenhouse, Heir Parkinson and Heir Carrow were at a disadvantage because of the slippery territory and before they realized, the worst had already happened.

"I assure you that Heir Parkinson will be alright by the weekend and Heir Carrow is in very capable hands. There is absolutely no need to panic. Hogwarts remains very safe. I just advise you to remain vigilant in the current weather and to mind your steps. I would also like to highlight that Madam Underhill will be unavailable in the infirmary until the weekend and substitutes will be available throughout the day and night. It will mostly be staff, but where their schedule does not permit them, you will see a few prefects and sometimes, me.

"This has been posted on the House boards as well. So, please do not suffer through your injuries or sickness on your own. I would like to request you to function as a community and ensure that your friends, roommates and fellow students get the attention that they need. We will welcome questions now." Cordelia quickly summarized.

Now this speech was a masterstroke, if Tom could, he would pretend to wipe away tears of pride at his Lia's deviousness. Too bad, his chance was up. He was taking the questions. But he would get to revel in it, as she and he explained the nuances to Alphard later, who was surely going to ask her reasons for showing kindness towards Carrow.

"What makes you qualified to be a substitute?" It was Leroy Smith who asked that with his hideous nasal voice.

"Heir Smith, Heiress Black is at par with the qualification of a beginner mediwitch. She has training and licensure from the Hôpital magique d'Ingelger in Paris and St. Mungo's in London. The same have been submitted long ago to Ministry of Magic, Britain, the French Ministry, ICW, Medimagical guild and finally Hogwarts. She also has been assisting Madam Underhill since the beginning of the school year on every other weekend, so if you do not put your trust into authentic documents, I request you to turn to student testimonies. She will be the only one who is allowed to actively heal people apart from Professor Slughorn, Tofty, Dumbledore, Merrythought and Garrison. The prefects will merely be handling appropriate and simpler potions. Heiress Black did not need to volunteer herself, but she offered it keeping in mind the school's dire need and will be dedicating a precious amount of time pro bono." Tom replied with great glee. They had been anticipating this question and Tom took great pride in rubbing Cordelia's qualifications in the face of pureblood men who did not see beyond her gender.

"Is Greenhouse 3 secure now?" It was a 2nd year Ravenclaw, Alaric Gamp, heir to the house of Gamp. A first cousin to Dorea, though neither she nor her siblings mentioned Gamps often. His voice was hesitant and scared and while Tom felt no inclination to favor him above anyone else, he had asked a very sensible question.

"God, you are such a pussy Gamp. What if it is not? Are you gonna go cry to Mama?" Mclaggen snorted. Tom sometimes wished annoyance served as a good explanation for sewing someone's mouth shut.

"10 points from Gryffindor for deplorable language and needless bullying." It was the calm voice of Ogden that beat Tom to a fitting reply.

When McLaggen began sputtering, Tom simply said, "Caution is a healthy trait Mr. McLaggen, there is no need to be uncouth and disrespectful when people demonstrate it. 'Heir' Gamp's question is not unwarranted and is quite wise." Tom emphasized Gamp's title to emphasize McLaggen's impudence all the more, "I would like to see you appear so carefree and display this bravado when a loose devil's snare wraps around you. There is a healthy difference in being courageous and being stupid, and I am sure more conversations with wiser and older Gryffindors will enlighten you of the same."

It was a firm nod from Charles, Sebastian, Heir Weasley, Marks and Gambol that sealed the deal as they gave a once over to McLaggen.

"Greenhouse 3 is now secure with additional wards courtesy of Prof. Hewl. However, it is going to be sealed for a period of 2 weeks because it is part of an active DMLE investigation so no one should try to venture near it, even in a misguided spirit of adventure, curiosity or inside scoop." Tom addressed Gamp first, but passed a roving eye all over as he gave the last detail.

"I thought it was an accident. Why the need for DMLE?" Carmichael asked in curiosity.

"DMLE does investigate accidents as well, Mr. Carmichael and this one was rather serious." Tom told him shortly but kindly.

"Is Hogwarts safe though? Too many incidents…" Abigail Macmillan asked with concern.

Tom nodded in acknowledgement to her question and then addressed the general crowd, "I would like to emphasize that today was not a result of nefarious plot. I will not deny that the attacks on Heir Potter, Heiress Black and my person were deliberate. But ultimately, they were also personal and threatening. Today was a series of rather unfortunate events but no threat or deliberate effort can be identified. While the series does seem coincidental, no common link has been found suggesting any sort of orchestration, except that Heir Carrow had an exceptionally unfortunate day. The only people near Heir Carrow were Professor Tofty, who readily submitted himself to an interrogation and whose wand has been thoroughly examined; and Heir Parkinson, Ms. Avery and Ms. Parkinson. Of course, they reached there to help Heir Carrow and also gave statements to DMLE."

Tom's reply was strategic, doing what Cordelia and he had planned in advance, differentiating the attacks but also giving away information about Parkinsons' and Avery's presence. That bit was not confidential as plenty of people had seen them around there but Tom had officially confirmed it.

"Since the attack on Heiress Black and Heir Potter, new security measures have been introduced and they have been working well. The attack on my person was a scare tactic and ultimately a version of a poor, spineless prank. If any real efforts to make me meet the same end as Heir Potter or Black were made, they were not successful. So, our measures are working and Hogwarts remains safe. However, I do recommend vigilance. Do not snoop around in places you are not meant to be in, or touch or handle objects that do not come from known, trusted sources. As it happened, following instructions would not just prevent attacks but also accidents. If you do go around disregarding safety measures, then I am afraid that we may not be able to help you." Tom shrugged.

"Lord Slytherin, if I may, are you saying that heir Carrow did not follow instructions?" Patsy Umbridge batted her eyes at him. Normally, Tom could not stand Umbridge; today though, she was making his and Cordelia's plan easier. But before he could even react, leave respond; a cantankerous voice filled the room.

"How dare you?" Aimee Parkinson looked with rage at him, as did Julia who began using rather crude language.

"How dare you insinuate that Albert got what he deserved because he did not follow instructions?" Avery barked out, her whole body trembling as she gripped her wand tighter.

It was a conundrum as Walburga and Burke reached the witch, disarmed her gently and Walburga yelled at her to calm down her hysterics. Dorea, Titania and Bagnold also tried to reason.

Tom pretended to blink in confusion as he watched the scene unfold. He knew Cordelia was giving the proceeding a composed look, as she pretended to look mildly concerned for the witch.

The witch looked at him in resentment and hate and Tom ignored all the ill will from her and gently said, "I am afraid that I do not understand your anger, Ms. Avery. Albert did venture towards the warded area which we are warned against. Of course, Cordelia already specified that he was feeling ill and dazed. I was merely reiterating the fact that people need to be vigilant and be mindful of instructions especially when they are not at their full capabilities. They would find it harder to fight the danger that they land themselves in and cannot afford such missteps. Why would you think that I was accusing heir Carrow of being negligent? " Tom blinked in confusion again, but gave her a little doubtful look as well.

Color left Julia's face.

Good, she realized that she had played right into his hands and gave away the fact that the events were due to Carrow's negligence. Why would she react so strongly to an innocent suggestion otherwise?

It was not a complete confession, but it had planted seeds. And between the crumbs Cordelia had left in her speech and the seeds he had sown, people would make guesses of the true story. The upper years mostly knew Carrow's drunk habits and some information will leak from that avenue to the younger years as people gossiped in common rooms and all over Hogwarts.

Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Slytherin students of 6th year would be regaling the tales of the whole day where Carrow had acted like a nincompoop in Charms and History of Magic and even Herbology, reinforcing that he had the entire debacle coming because of his drinking problem. Because as Cordelia had emphasized, only the things that occurred _after_ the Herbology class were confidential. Other people will merely need to add other observations, how he had missed classes for days, how he looked hungover, disoriented, and had kept drinking from his flask. And of course, Cordelia had given away the fact that Lord Carrow, and not the school or DMLE, was holding the information confidential, illustrating that the only delicate thing about the situation was Carrow's reputation and not Tofty's research or Carrow's safety respectively.

Cordelia's injuries were a secret because DMLE had decreed revealing them dangerous to her safety, not merely because Blacks were overzealous; and Prophet had printed that as a first page headline. He was sure that smart people would connect the dots and pass the information around.

While Charlie, Lia and he will be lauded for braving nefarious plots; Carrow's incompetence, drunkenness and stupidity will become the talk of the school.

Avery and Parkinsons will be helpless. If they protested the version rampant around the school, then they would need to tell the version they thought or knew to be true considering that they were near Carrow. The easiest way to rescue Carrow was to pin the responsibility on someone else. Unfortunately for them, Cordelia's statements and his answers had closed down every avenue where they could pin the responsibility; not the school, not the Professors, not the mediwitch and not any plotting individual or group because the only ones near Carrow were Parkinsons and Avery.

Yes, Carrow was stuck in a nice little trap.

* * *

 **Hello everyone,**

 **I have had a few good days, especially in terms of this story and plotting and writing it. Also, recently the story crossed 500 Reviews and 1000 favs, so I thought it deserved a commemoration. So, I am updating it earlier than my schedule. Hope this was an enjoyable read. Next update will be a month from now, that is near Valentine's day.**

 **This is also a good, solid 13000 words long. I considered partitioning it into two but I liked the length so…. Cheers**

 **And I had to use a lot of my brain and I mean A LOT OF MY BRAIN for most of this chapter because I think I suck at writing politics and coming up with torture is not my usual cuppa. So, I hope you guys appreciate it.**

 **SO, Please leave me reviews, pretty please!**


	37. Chapter 31: Roses

**Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Marauder's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

4) **THE RATING OF THE FIC HAS BEEN CHANGED TO 'M' because of slightly more graphic descriptions of violence. It is mostly a safety measure and does not contain anything triggering yet. Future updates will carry warnings of triggers, if any emerge in the course of the story.**

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" **Parseltongue"**

* * *

 **Previously**

 ** _Black luck comes into play. As Cordelia is seated in library with Tom, Dorea, Charlie, Evelyn, Walburga, Lucretia, Sebastian, Tiberius II Ogden, Edmund Bones, Mary Abbot, Amara Tufts, Eileen Prince on the 'court table', the conversation moves to ferocity of Cordelia because of delay in Abraxas, Alphard and Zabini's arrivals. The hilarity is interrupted with the arrival of Abraxas, Orion, Alphard, Anastius Zabini, Pierce Nott, Luther Pritchard, Winston Travers and Marvin Jugson who talk about an accident that occurred with Albert Carrow. Dorea, Charlie and Luther then fill the rest of the people on the various incidents through the day. Then Abraxas fills them on the real issue of more grotesque accidents. Political analysis of the events' consequences occurs. Cordelia and Tom are supposed to lead an open court meeting on the upcoming showcase, but they realize that people would want to know more about the accidents and there would be concerns around safety of students etc. In the actual meeting, Tom and Cordelia practice and preach their agenda with careful and ingenious political maneuvering. (I still suggest you go and read the previous chapter, just because since then people have convinced me that it was highly good. :P)_**

* * *

 **Chapter 31**

 **Roses**

 **Tom's POV**

Tom watched as Cordelia tied letters to Zephyr and Quetzalcoatl. Zephyr was carrying a missive to Lord Black because despite the frost between him and Cordelia, Cordelia was not negligent in her duties and a letter apprising him to the situations in Hogwarts was one of them. After handing Lord Black his letter, Zephyr would fly to France to her parents so that they did not needlessly worry about her and her friends' safety.

Tom had easily offered Quetzlecoatl for her missive to Lord Malfoy and her aunt, Lady Callidora Longbottom. According to her, Uncle Polly and Aunt Cassy would not even fret over their daughters, too engaged in their son. And while she was sure that Sebastian and Abraxas would also write to their parents, Cordelia's word carried more weight because adults decreed her to be mature about dangers and reality.

She would write to Cassiopeia, only to tell her the gossip of Carrow and Avery household, but that gossip could wait for a couple more days.

The meeting had ended couple of hours ago. The first half an hour was spent as their inner circle heaped praises on them for their intricate work. Genuine pats and thumps on their backs as they gushed about it.

What had been surprising was when Charlie wrapped him in a manly hug to show his appreciation and enthusiasm. Tom was more used to embraces now because both he and Cordelia loved being wrapped around each other and over the holidays, he had received a couple of hugs from Cordelia's mother as well, but this was the first time he received affection from a brotherly figure. It had felt… nice.

Anastius had been all about popping an alcohol bottle and drinking pegs to celebrate, however, a pointed glare from Dorea, and synchronized rising brows from him and Cordelia had made Anastius withdraw the idea in haste, albeit quite grumpily as Abraxas, Charlie, Sebastian, Lucretia and Orion laughed at the hilarity. Of course, the Gryffindors and Evelyn had to soon rush away because of curfew and that had resulted in an end of the impromptu celebratory meet.

Tom had then aided Cordelia in writing a letter to her Uncle Arcturus. She was having a hard time writing a letter that was not passive aggressive or rude. In the end, when she threw a third draft that called her uncle a black-hearted Black (the earlier ones were worse), Tom had to take over and dictate an appropriate missive which Cordelia scribed word to word, albeit with half-hearted complains, quips and constant eye rolls. Tom had to thwack his fist mildly and gently over the back of her head in a reprimand before she gave up the tirade, tied the scroll with flourish and cheerfully started talking to him about something mundane.

She had a much easier time writing the other three letters and she had even managed to convince him to let her add comments from him to her letter to Lord Malfoy. A sample sentence read like "I am doing fine but Tom says that I over work myself. Even if I do, you should not worry because between Tom, Abraxas and Dorea, I am parented like a baby. Tom says with exasperation that my behavior deems babying. " By the end of it, Tom was red from embarrassment and quite exasperated because there was no sentence where she had not mentioned him and she had been quite unyielding in changing that particular letter. In the end, he had just given up because of how happy that letter writing had made her. So what if it caused him some embarrassment? Hyperion Malfoy was no stranger to his niece's charms, so Tom did not particularly have to worry about his impression on the man.

They had not needed to do anything on the pet end. So, Lia had written letters in leisure and Tom had kept company and pretended to read as he just watched her antics.

Jormy had already gone to sleep in the evening. She hated the rainy, damp weather so she spent most of the day lazily buried under the blankets and the elves had taken care of the kneazles. Nyx and Lux were almost grown to be self-sufficient and could hunt meals and stuff on their own but he and Cordelia could not help but treat them like babies, while promising to do that only for a little while. Today, they were also abed before they arrived in their quarters.

As Cordelia watched the fading outline of the snowy owls against the inky black sky and melting moon from their terrace, Tom firmly wrapped his arms around her and she leaned her back into him with a sigh, clasping his fist in comfort.

"Overall a productive day, hmmm?" She mused in her soft voice and giggled gently when Tom pecked the corner of her lips with his smile in response.

"There is one last thing I would like to get done." Tom admitted as he pulled her along to their bedroom.

Cordelia still had a content expression on her face as he pulled her to a stop right in the center of the room, but when he steadied her and gave her an imploring look, she blinked at him in slight confusion.

"It was a month ago that we began our courtship." Tom admitted and saw as Cordelia's eyes widened in realization and she crooned closer to him without a thought, placing a light hand over her lips and then removing it as she said, "I remembered it till a few days ago but it completely vanished when the whole Carrow debacle began last week."

"Understandable." Tom easily agreed and Cordelia gave him an uncertain smile.

"Let me get out some chocolates, we should celebrate." She clapped her hands a moment later in excitation.

Tom could not help it; he gave out a light chuckle. It still caught him off-guard when Cordelia switched from a prim proper mature Heiress to his Lia with such a childlike innocent enthusiasm.

While he did not mind indulging in her love for chocolate, he had something else in mind so he grasped her arm firmly but lightly to stop her from escaping away from him.

She turned around to face him as she understood that he wished to talk to her, but gave him a puzzled questioning look.

"We never decided which courtship ritual we would use" Tom gently said and before her brief composed face transformed to full scale indignation, he quickly added, "….and I know that you would be furious at their thought because most courtship rituals are very patriarchal and presume that women are less than men and that it is up to men to take charge in a situation and relationship, but I wanted to court you to show you how important you are to me and I have been looking and reading up on different ones…" He trailed off, eyeing her carefully.

Tom knew that her only reason for agreement to a courtship was that it would discourage suitors for both of them. She had not wanted to do anything; as per her, their love could exist and flourish without labels.

Right now, she did not look furious, her face was serious and contemplative and she still seemed to be thinking. When she gave a curt nod, Tom translated it to her willingness to listen to him, albeit she was still against using a ritual at all. He hoped that he could convince her otherwise.

"As you know, I have been reading Slytherin journals. They are not particularly ordered and mostly I have been picking them at random. In one of them, he has written extensively about Helga and her husband and his relationship with them and his thoughts on their union. Helga's husband was a muggle called Puff. Her housename is a mixture of a slang name for a magical plant that induced laughter and her husband's name and people misattribute it as her surname but that is beside the point. When Slytherin met them way before Hogwarts, they had already been married for a few years and were expecting their first child. Apparently Puff had known her nature as a witch and had been reluctant to marry her, not because he shared the dislike or fear of witchcraft that a lot of muggles had, but because he thought that he could never hold Helga's interest as her beloved magic and her magical plants did. Helga loved him a lot and he loved her too, so to convince him she used a courting ritual she had devised to denote the importance of their love to her, going against the tradition. Slytherin calls it the ritual of Moon.

"As Helga loved plants, specifically fluxweed, and Puff deemed them to be more interesting than him, she gave him meaningful courting presents twice every moon cycle, once when the fluxweed bloomed full, that is the full moon, and once when the fluxweed dulled completely, that is the new moon. She used it to signify two things; one, she loved him right along with her love for plants and magic and thought of him despite being engaged with them and two; it did not matter to her how bright or how dull life would be with him, she would love him all the same all the time. Puff did agree and they did get married eventually.

"Then, one of their sons used the same ritual to court a much more magically powerful witch than him, who was also a seer and who would not give him the light of the day. He alluded to the moon to signify different modes of divination. And he did convince her and they did get married too and he moved away to be with her and even took her name." Tom regaled the story to her, carefully observing her expressions as they switched from wariness to interest, wonder, amusement and a little bit of awe.

"But that is not the entirely the point. I am not saying that I am the only one who is entitled to court in our relationship because I am a man, but I simply wish to do it because I want to tell you and the whole world just how much you mean to me and how much our love means to me. I tried having this conversation last night but it delved into more tragedy and subsequently more passion" he allowed himself a slightly mischievous smile as Cordelia's eyes sparked in remembrance, "… than was required for this conversation. And I would be honored if you let me court you using the ritual Helga used for Puff because not only is it a novel ritual, it was also simply based on their love and later their son's love, and not on a patriarchal or matriarchal mindset or who is superior in a relationship."

Tom completed his thoughts and looked at her hopefully. She was silent for a few moments as she just looked at his face. She did not look angry but Tom could not get a read over what she was thinking as well. So, he began blabbering, "Of course, it does not have to mean that you won't or can't give gifts to me. To be honest, you have given me too much of them already….." and he was silenced as Lia's lips ascended on his lips and she yanked his face down by knotting her fingers in his hair and Tom happily responded to the ministrations as his arms automatically encased her and pulled her closer.

Kisses with her were always intoxicating. Tom usually forgot everything as he drowned in the taste and feel of her sweet, glorious lips.

And he did.

And he only regained the thought of what they had been discussing, as her exceptionally bright green eyes looked directly at his hazy ones once they separated and she said gently, "If it means this much to you, then yes, I will be honored to be courted by you. I cannot possibly deny you what you want to do especially when you took so much care about respecting my feelings as you planned this." She said seriously and gave him an affectionate smile and pecked his chin and right cheek gently, as she gently nuzzled her forehead against his cheek and Tom wrapped his arms around her quickly to bury himself and her in a tight hug in his gratitude.

"I love you." She murmured and he replied back, as he placed a gentle kiss on her hair, "love you too, Lia. Love you too!"

"I think I will stick to an unplanned gift giving thing for you though. I am more off an 'on the spur' person." She mused and Tom rolled his eyes but kissed her temple again anyway, "Of course…"

By now, he had understood that dissuading her was a herculean task and he should not attempt it unless she was planning something quite dangerous and harmful to herself or she was planning something really, really crazy.

Unfortunately, giving gifts to him was neither of them.

And honestly, he liked her presents. They were meaningful, thoughtful, practical and useful all at the same time. Except for Jormy, except for that god darned snake who only knew whining. He supposed Jormy made him appreciate humans more, who were definitely less irritating than her, like Zabini.

Tom had gotten used to Alphard over the winter break. Cordelia had this nice, nifty way of dealing with him and Tom had emulated that to great success.

Zabini, though, gosh….that boy could be very irritating and the worst part was that Zabini knew how annoying he was being and continued with his deeds. But even Zabini had nothing on Jormy when she was throwing one of her tantrums.

But he would worry about the snake later, there was one little thing he needed to do before they retired to bed.

"Traditionally, all courtships have a month's probationary period. Once the month ends, the courter offers a present but I am sure you know that and never told me because you did not want to use a ritual," Tom began and he knew she would protest, but he continued on, "And luckily our month's end also coincides with a full moon, so that means that you need to accept your first present today regardless."

Cordelia made a face, but looking at his hopeful expression, it softened to a smile and she stood on her toes, pecked his forehead and nodded.

Tom summoned the small dragonhide pouch from his new trunk.

"The present is inside. You can tie the pouch on a belt that carries your dagger." He said and offered it to her hesitantly.

Tom was not used to buying presents. Christmas had been one tough time. Thankfully, Cordelia had liked both the presents, the book that he had used as a cover and the locket.

But this was not a Christmas present. This was the first present that was supposed to represent his love, affection, respect and protection for her. He wanted to get it right. He supposed that he could have taken Dorea's help but she did not know about them yet and he really wanted Cordelia to be the one person who got to know about the present.

He had discussed it with Erin, but as kind and helpful she was, she was still a snake.

Cordelia took it gently, giving him a concerned look at his nervousness but she tactfully did not mention anything aloud.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

Cordelia was concerned about Tom's nervousness, mainly because she did not like that he was worried because he feared her reaction to his presents.

Cordelia could empathize to an extent. Though as Juniper, she never had this kind of pressure. She had never wondered about her first presents to anybody as Ron and Hermione and even Hagrid were easy to buy presents for. The situation was similar with Draco and Sid and Ginny, Luna, Neville…even Molly, Arthur or George.

The first time Cordelia had gotten stuck about a gift was for Tom because she wanted to give him everything. And she was not sure what he would accept from her? Or what he would appreciate?

The familiar and pets were a gamble. She had not been sure if Tom would appreciate taking that kind of authority over him that she chose and named his familiar, or that she chose an owl for him.

And Lux and Nyx, well, she had definitely thought that he would say that she had lost her mind or marbles or something.

But he had not.

Truly, Cordelia had faith in Tom' sense of presents. He was always so thoughtful. His Christmas presents had shown that. And today, the way he had found a ritual that let him do his thing and did not impeach on her sense of self and respect, it was very clear about how much he had cared to not upset her and acknowledge her independence.

So, without much ado, she opened the pouch and pushed her right palm inside and when she felt several cool shapes, she went up to the bed, pulled the bag upside down and let the innards drop onto the bed.

Four warding stones made from Amethyst and carved into shapes of rose buds stared at her. They carried the rune of absorb, obey and protect for storing magic, molding magic at her behest and using that magic for protection.

Warding stones served as one of the most powerful anchors of wards in the world of magic; four stones for each direction or each element: fire, air, earth and water, to be buried or put in the four corners or ends of the place one wished to guard. All old manors had ward stones, she was sure that Hogwarts had several different sets.

The older the stone, the better and what was even better was that all warding stones come from one block of a material. Cordelia was very sure that all the stones in front of her came from a single block of Amethyst and she was sure that the stone was the oldest the Tom could find.

She took one in her palm and felt it in her fingers and she was sure that her awe and wonder was quite apparent on her face.

She looked at Tom, who did not look so nervous anymore, but he still gave her a questioning look.

Cordelia immediately threw her arms around him and squeezed him tightly. Tom gently lifted her off her feet as he returned her hug.

"I know while you generally lean towards healing, you also have a keen interest in warding. You just do not tell that aloud because it is considered a masculine profession," He said, explaining the reason behind the gift.

She nodded, her eyes getting a wet sheen.

"Well, you don't need to hide it. People will always find something to fault. Always." He gently told her.

"Warding stones are incredibly rare." Cordelia looked at him in a sort of half-hearted complain.

"I did not pay even a knut for them." Tom acknowledged, putting her down on her feet.

"Slytherin had no interest in warding." She said pointedly, hands waving dramatically.

"But he collected rare metals and stones to use as ingredients for his potions and amethyst was very rare until 18th century." Tom told her.

"But you still had to get them carved. These are the fanciest warding stones I have seen, even from everything I saw in the books. I mean they are carved into roses." She said indignantly.

"I carved them on my own." Tom admitted, "Amethyst is easy to cut, mold and polish, although I refrained from making them too shiny. The restricted section has a section of alchemy. A part of that deals with cutting of stones. I practiced on normal quartz and then did it to a block of amethyst that Slytherin had in the vault. They are simply rose shaped because well, roses are roses and you seemed partial towards them. And well, as I said, the choice of stone depended on that. Amethyst is easier to carve and it is purple, a color you are very partial to and you also said is the color of my magic. I considered Jade for your eyes but jade has several magical properties and they would have interfered with any ward you created."

"You carved my first warding stones?" She looked at him like he had grown an extra head or a tail.

"Yeah…I thought you would appreciate them more than any gem encased in jewelry or something else. And I really wanted to do something that I had a hand in. Anybody can get things done, but there are fewer people who put themselves in the thick for you and you have constantly done that for me…." Tom said with a doubtful and uncomfortable stance, as if he was asking her the truth of his belief.

"Appreciate them….I….I don't know how to tell you what this means to me…the amount of thought you put in them…" She cried out with indignation and exasperation.

"So, you like it." He asked with raised brows.

"If these stones were not delicate and I was not afraid to break them or chip them, I would throw them at your head to show you how thick you are being right now…" Cordelia said dangerously.

"You are very creative with your threats." Tom pointed out blandly.

"And don't you ever forget that." She flipped her hair at him in a mocking pretentious pose.

"I shall not." Tom replied dutifully, as his cheeks swelled to show his amused laughter.

"Good, because you have ensured that you will suffer my presence for very, very long…" She patted his head in a mock superior manner.

"I am counting on it…" Tom said softly and dropped a kiss on her forehead.

* * *

 **Scene continued, Tom's POV**

Once he pulled away from her forehead, he just pulled her closer simply to hold her.

"I suppose I would also mind if something happened to ruin your fetching fair and that really adorable crease you get on your forehead when you think I am crazy…" Cordelia trailed her finger lightly on his cheek in a coy manner but the effect was contradicted by her teasing smile.

Tom could not resist and had to ask, "Do you think Lyra finds it fetching too?" Tom got a glint in his eyes.

Cordelia's smile vanished like it had never been there and her finger went away as fast, as if she had suffered a burn.

"I am kidding," Tom raised his hands in surrender before it escalated.

"I hope her family's devil's snare wipes off that smug look." She said coolly and started stomping off towards the door.

Tom easily picked her from behind halting her attempt, she barely weighed anything.

"Put me down…" She said, quite irritated and annoyed.

But Tom did not leave her; he carried her like that to their love seat by the fire and settled on it with her on his lap.

"Let me go…" She said with a scowl but otherwise made no movement to leave.

There was hope.

"I am sorry, the joke was in poor taste and I should not have made it." He said sincerely, still worried and concerned. He had not thought that she would take it like this. She quite enjoyed teasing him with allusions to the flirtatious attempts of Greengrass. He knew that she was playfully jealous of it once and he had cleared that up in the chamber and since that she had never shown a sign that she was bothered by Greengrass to this extent.

What occurred next completely floored Tom! Cordelia's face tore up, she clutched his nightshirt tightly and she began to bitterly weep.

"Lia…" He immediately wrapped himself around her.

Cordelia had never out rightly wept quite like this. Sure, she got teary eyes sometimes, but she gained her composure back in a couple of minutes. And she had cried a little harder a couple of times, but that was after she had gotten sad and a little teary. She got sad occasionally too but this, this was different. Tom could tell. Out of the two of them, it was Tom who had cried more and wept like there was no tomorrow when the dementors attacked. Tom had once thought that he was very thick skinned when it came to pain. Compared to Cordelia though, his skin was a flimsy paper to her parchment.

But right now, she was bawling her eyes out with millions of teardrops pouring out of her emeralds.

He was lost for words. He had never had to comfort anybody before her. He could comfort her sometimes and she usually bounced back into her chirpy self in few moments…but today he could not even figure out what had upset her.

This could not be just about Greengrass. The girl irritated her, yes. But he was the one got more annoyed and begged Lia for a reprieve.

What comforted Tom was that she was not moving away from him, her arms had snaked around his neck and she was leaning into him for support, so she was upset but she did not completely hate him yet.

"Lia…" he gently asked again. Her sobs turned softer until they were almost sniffles.

She just moved to bury her head in his shoulder and he immediately cradled her head is his palm in a comforting gesture and quietly asked, "What happened?"

"I love you…" She mumbled.

"I love you as well. But why is that making you cry?" Tom gently asked again.

"I don't know…" She mumbled back, breaking into a couple more, softer sobs. The sound was guttural to Tom. He could not see this or bear this. Cordelia was not supposed to get sad because of him. Today was supposed to be a happy day and just a simple quip from him had destroyed everything.  
Tom would devolve into pitiful thoughts later, he needed to get a grip of the situation first.

"What would make you feel better?" He gently asked.

She hugged him tighter, "I am sorry."

"Why are you being sorry?' He asked again.

"I did not mean to get this upset." She cried out.

"Nobody means to get upset Lia. If you are feeling sad, you are allowed to express that to people you care about. You taught me that." He gently rubbed soothing circles on her shoulder and said comfortingly, "What made you sad?"

"I don't like Greengrass." She said, her voice was muffled because of how deeply she had buried her head in the nape of his neck.

"I don't like her either, if I could, I would sew her mouth shut." He seriously said.

"I have been a little jealous by the attention she has been given you and honest to raving mad as well. She just wants your title and money." Cordelia complained in between her sniffles.

"That is perfectly understandable." Tom encouraged her confession.

"I have been avoiding talking or conversing with her at all because I was afraid that I would lose my patience and just do something impulsive…" She confessed.

"Also understandable and very prudent. Although, I suppose we can do something clandestine." Tom nodded and lightly suggested.

He immediately got whacked on his shoulder but Tom did not mind as he knew that Cordelia had at least a ghost of a smile on her lips as she did that, even if he could not see her face.

"Don't test my control." She complained.

"Okay, okay. No jokes and no teasing and no encouraging your anger. Tell me more." Tom prompted.

"I don't know. I was a little miffed when you made that jab. Not at you really…I was merely annoyed that you managed to win the argument, but I had planned on stomping off to Walburga's rooms, get her to tell me some really juicy Greengrass gossip and demand that she be as nasty as possible in her words because the witch upset me. And Walburga would have done it and she would have called Dorea and Lucretia and we would have joked every Greengrass family joke and I would have been happier and I would have come back, cuddled with you and be all better." Cordelia kept sniffling.

Tom's shoulders released a tension he had not realized that he had been holding. If she had planned on cuddling with him, she was not angry at him at all.

But Cordelia was still crying softly, so gently asked, "So, what happened? Are you unhappy that I stopped you?"

"Do you think I am so crazy that I would cry about you trying to talk to me?" She said indignantly, still crying.

"No…" Tom said carefully, "But I am feeling a bit lost about what made you cry?" Tom admitted.

"I don't know…."She cried even more indignantly and separated from him in a huff and Tom got a look at her for the first time.

Her face was puffy, her eyes were completely red from all the crying and her lips were scrunched up in a pitiful grimace, her nose was flushed red and her cheeks had plenty of tears continuously rolling down of them. No, this was definitely different.

If possible, Tom's heart got even more clenched.

"I don't know…." She sniffled, "I was fine and then I felt this unimaginable sorrow and I can't help but cry….and I don't know why I am sad…And I am so sorry I am making you upset…"

And then it clicked in Tom's head, and he quickly reached, pulled back Cordelia in his arms, and cradled her head in himself a little gently and began murmuring, "Shhh, it is okay, I am not upset, don't you worry about that."

"Have the memories from older magicae's coming on to you sooner or faster?" Tom asked.

"I don't know. I wanted to focus on Carrow so I used leglimency to block them for almost a week." She murmured mournfully.

Tom could not help it and he whacked her on her head sharply. She knew blocking memories without processing them had consequences. She was the one who warned him multiple times while teaching him occlumency.

Cordelia looked at him in shock and began weeping with a new found sense of tragedy. Tom was aghast. What had he done?

"I am so sorry, I am so sorry, Lia. I was not thinking…." He immediately began blabbering apologies.

But she just cuddled into him, so he regained his composure and gently began saying, "I think the memories you blocked were particularly tragic and since you blocked them so to speak, they are all bombarding your shield now. The shield has probably gone weaker when your control slipped because of the irritation and the emotions of the memories are leaking through without the actual memory. Salazar mentioned that this sometime occurred with his wife Alessa."

"Oh…" she said a in a small voice, but her voice held the faint note of realization.

"I did not think that you had found anything on magicae or his wife in his journals. You said that he scarcely mentioned her.' She continued in a similar small voice.

Even in her sorrow, she was still as sharp as ever. Just how resilient she could be...

"He does not. But once Rowena was having a very big mental breakdown and none of them could figure out why. Salazar proposed this as a theory when they ran out of stuff to consider. He theorized that as Rowena was a very accomplished Occlumens, she had probably buried some sorrow that was coming back to haunt her." Tom explained gently.

"Oh, did she get better?" Cordelia mumbled, a little calmer now that she was a little distracted by the piece of information.

"She did although that was not what was wrong with her. She had accidentally eaten a depressant herb that she had stumbled in what is now the forbidden forest. Her curiosity for new ingredients for creating her diadem made her a little irresponsible on her excursion. While Godric laughed about it on her face for days, Salazar and Helga pulled her by the ears and scolded her for years about eating plants that she knew nothing about. But of course, when they found out, they merely waited for the herb to lose its effects."

"Wasn't she supposed to be wise?" Cordelia asked timidly; now completely calm with an occasional sniffle.

Listening to old stories distracted her. Good. That he could easily tell.

"She was…but I think she gained most of her wisdom from Helga, Puff and Salazar's mothering as she grew up. She was quite younger than them; nearly half of Helga's age, about 10-11 years younger than Salazar and about 4-5 years younger than Godric. She was very smart and curious and witty. Salazar often complains about her sharp tongue in his entries. She was a very fast learner of magic, she covered all that Salazar knew in about a year while she was also learning from Helga, Godric and even Puff. Puff worked with metals and she was quite curious about smelting and the like. Her penchant for trouble was only second to Godric though. Her curiosity landed her in a lot of trouble. While Godric went to look for trouble for the sake of trouble, Rowena landed in it by drowning in the thought of new knowledge. Salazar also grudgingly acknowledges that the knowledge and information she collected was worth all that trouble and more." Tom chuckled.

Cordelia's sharper eyes gave away her attention to what he was saying, so, Tom continued, "She had a really sharp tongue that even Salazar was afraid of but even she could not tame Godric with her sharp words, no, that job fell to Helga. And Helga only ever listened to Puff when she was on her tirade because of her steadfast nature and Puff was almost always outwitted by Rowena and Rowena was very afraid of Godric and Salazar when they hatched brilliantly valorous and sneaky plans to get her out of her books. So, I guess in that way, they all honed their personal traits by being near each other."

"That sounds nice," Cordelia acknowledged, as she gently tugged on his hair. She sometimes tended to do that when she was thinking something deeply. It was quite an affectionate gesture from her.

"In what way?" Tom was hell bent on keeping her thoughts away from what sorrows those memories would plague her from as he gently pushed her ringlets behind her ear, pecking her temple lightly.

"That despite every tale of greatness, the founders were people too. They had people they cared about and they made mistakes, a whole lot of them before they gained the formidable reputation we know of. And that they were a family. Helga and Puff sound like parents with Salazar doubling as Helga and Rowena's brother and Godric sounds like that naughty nephew or cousin or older brother who needs to create trouble for feeling worthy and of course, Rowena was the baby." Cordelia said, a very small smile gracing her face finally, as she snuggled into him.

"Tell me more…" She gently requested and Tom obliged.

He kept telling incidents from Salazar's journals. Several potion escapades of Helga and Salazar and the way Salazar helped Godric outwit a deal with a particularly malicious and scheming Goblin to get Godric his legendary sword and how Rowena would pester him to translate every goddamn thing that any snake they met ever said, how he and Puff together designed the Slytherin Dorms. Cordelia kept listening, mostly silently, but sometimes with curious questions or clarifications.

It was when Tom was describing the tussle of Helga and Salazar in how they wanted to design the gardens (prior to greenhouses) at Hogwarts that Cordelia's eyes began to drift shut and by the time Tom finished the tale, describing in detail how Rowena and Godric separated the two arguing adults by making them hover in the air and dumping them in the lake while Puff & Helga's eldest daughter and Puff himself watched, hooted and laughed hysterically, Cordelia was fast asleep with a peaceful expression.

He plopped a kiss on her forehead and carried her to their bed.

The warding stones entered the pouch again with his wandless magic and the pouch levitated itself and went into the desk of drawers that had Cordelia's knick knacks.

As Tom lay in bed, still cradling Cordelia in his arms, he realized that his patience today was a testament of how far he had come this year.

He had always held a disdain for crying above all emotional expressions. And despite Cordelia's every assurance, he had mentally berated himself for losing control over the dementor incident. He had thought himself weak and foolish and a sentimentalist. Today though, his mind had not even ventured towards those adjectives, not until now when he reflected on his change of attitude. All he had wanted to know and understand was her sorrow and her reason for crying.

He again bent down and kissed her cheek softly, lightly touching one of her ringlets. Thank goodness that it was just a bunch of residual emotions. The world would woe before he allowed it to make Cordelia cry like that again. It was too heartbreaking for him to tolerate that.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

When Tom woke up next morning, Cordelia had already squiggled out of his arms, but his pillow smelled much more comforting than he remembered. When he felt gentle fingers running through his hair, he realized that his pillow had been replaced with Cordelia's lap. He smiled despite himself and turned himself to face her.

She was engrossed in one of the old journals they had found in Room of requirement.

Honestly, Tom had been too busy gauging the history of Slytherin family through whatever documents and books or journals he had found in the vaults. Cataloguing all the books they had found in the room of hidden things had fallen on Cordelia's shoulders.

And Tom knew that she had found time for it despite being super busy because she eventually wanted to remove questionable and rare things from the room and store it in a respectable, acceptable place.

They had also been contemplating telling at least the inner circle about it, although they were still weighing the pros and cons of that. And Tom knew that she did not want anybody to just stumble around potentially dangerous stuff in the room.

She had plans in place for returning the books to families whose member had left them, or donating them to Hogwarts library. But of course, that was going to come in a bit later.

When Tom shifted his head a little more, it alerted Cordelia of his waking up and he was greeted with a bright, lovely smile. When Tom returned the look lazily and got up, she confessed sheepishly, "You will be pleased to know that sleep helped me settle the memories in place. I no longer feel the urge to cry like a baby."

"That is good to know." Tom nodded.

"Thank you for being so patient." She added.

Tom fixed her with a look, "I love you and I will always be there for you." He said pointedly, repeating her own statement that she had insisted on saying out loud every time Tom expressed the slightest bit of gratefulness for her presence.

He reckoned she would understand the sentiment behind it.

She nodded gingerly.

Just then, the door of the nursery opened and Nyx and Lux bounded towards the bed and Jormy slithered out as well,

" **Order me a warm chicken with a hot sauce. I want to feast."** She said pointedly.

" **Of course, anything else my lady**?" Tom barked out sarcastically.

" **I suppose you could order some of the elves to polish my scales for me**." She hissed back after considering for half a minute.

" **With a little bit of fragrant steam."** She added as an afterthought.

" **Have you been exposed to such services before**?" Cordelia asked diplomatically.

" **But of course…** " Jormy hissed delicately.

" **Really, because what you are describing is close to Turkish bath and you have been nowhere near Turkey and your trainer never mentioned that he procured one for you**." Cordelia said shrewdly.

" **Okay…I lied."** Jormy exclaimed melodramatically, " **but one of the little companions of my trainer described it and it sounds so glorious, especially in this weather. You must simply do this for me**."

" **Jormy, come down from your high horse. We do not have time for catering to your excess**." Cordelia said sharply, " **We have classes to attend and work to do. So do elves. I can ask one of the elves to deliver some chicken to you if they are done with their routine duties. You are supposed to eat a heavy meal once a week and you have already had meals twice this week, that also quite chubby rabbits and you are barely one and half meter long and we still have three full days of a week left. At this rate, you will only feed your gluttonous stomach and lie about lazily all your life, gaining unjust amount of weight, developing several digestive problems and eventually dying because of that. Roam about in the living quarters, a little exercise will also make you warmer. Besides, all the living quarters have a running fire, how cold can you possibly be?** "

If snakes could gape, then that is what Jormy was doing. Cordelia had been so endlessly patient with Jormy's incessant demands and habits and so the scolding likely brought a shock.

" **Well, you should not have procured a companion if you are this busy**." Jormy recovered a little later.

" **How about we make a deal? You stop your high and mighty act and start being reasonable or Tom and I go back to following your trainer's instructions and training regime to the dot, which means only uncooked food once a week, a single perch by the fire and a reward based system where you will need to work for every other scrap."** Cordelia said decisively.

" **But you said that the system was barbaric for someone as sentient as me."** Jormy said worryingly.

" **Yes, and I stand by that. However, being sentient does not just entitle you privileges and rights, it also comes with duties and responsibilities and so far, Tom and I have only born witness to how gluttonous and spoiled you are. You do not use your intellect or your fast reflexes and you insist on being served hand on foot. You are worse than a non-sentient animal because even non-sentient animals have a regard and respect for their fellow beings and the laws of nature. They work and understand and follow rules even if they are not as intellectually capable as you are. I am afraid that I am putting my foot down now. If you insist on being worse and spoiled, then you deserve a worse kind of attitude and care from us. So until you act responsibly, no privileges!"** Cordelia shot furiously.

Let no one tell you that Cordelia's soft heart did not have the kind of steel necessary for a ruling or disciplining hand. She could be quite firm and unyielding when she wanted to be.

And he knew that Jormy had no solution but listening to Cordelia.

" **Take time till today's evening and then we will talk."** Tom gave a stern look to the snake. She had spoiled his and Cordelia's mood early in the morning.

Erin was so much more reasonable.

* * *

 **Evelyn's POV**

Evelyn had the most bizarre Thursday in ages yesterday. The entire incident of Carrow had shocked her beyond words.

Truly, she was no stranger to the woes of alcohol and the effect it had on men(Author note). Her Father's uncle was one such man, who sold out his own estate to feed his need for alcohol, nearly sold his wife and young son off as slaves. His grandfather and father had to step in and yet, her father had earned nothing but scorn from her Great uncle and his son, her cousin uncle. Her great aunt had died early too, very tense and stressed from the life her husband and son created.

Now the cousin uncle was much on the same path, alcohol and even other forms of bad habits, hiring prostitutes and what not… He was but 10 years older than Evelyn and she was well aware that he hoped that her father would name him the successor of the baron hood and the entire businesses and estates of the Adlers, considering Evelyn was his only progeny and of course, according to him, she lacked severely because she was not a man.

She was also aware that her father would rather let the family legacy die rather than leave anything to that bumbling fool.

Which is why, Evelyn had been trained in everything; estate management, politics, inner working of agriculture, diplomacy, dealing with difficult people, high society etiquette for men and on and on.

It had of course been supplemented by her mother's harsh training of female etiquette and lady like pursuits. Evelyn could play instruments, sing, ballet, plan parties, sew, embroider, arrange flowers, speak the language of flowers, manage a house or manor and converse and read in plethora of different languages.

Her father was extremely proud of her. Her mother, less so.

Her father had always joked that even if there was a goddess of etiquette and she graced the Adler Manor with her presence, her mother would still be able to find faults in her. Such was the perfection that Lady Adler practiced and insisted on imparting to her only child.

Evelyn had luckily been brought up in a household that had love and affection. Stern, her mother might be, but heartless she was not and deny as she may in her efforts to remain proper, she was smitten with her father.

Of course, she would never admit it out loud. It was not considered proper to bring such sentiments outside of their bedroom. But it was both her parents who taught her that these things always seeped in your daily habits, from the way you glance at people to the way a lady behaved around a man.

Which is why Evelyn could always tell when her mother was particularly pleased with her father, she always allowed him an extra desert on such occasions and those butter rolls that her father so loved.

Of course, her father showed his affections quite openly, from teasing her mother to giving her flowers on the dining table, her father always had a persistent, cheeky state.

When Evelyn had first seen Cordelia, she had thought that her mother would have loved Cordelia. Such nice manners, such grace, such regard and respect for people around her. That impression had not changed until the last term was ending and this term began, when she saw the mischievous side of Cordelia, her trouble-making nature, her absolute disregard for propriety when it came to Tom. It was then that Evelyn concluded that perhaps, Cordelia would be better liked by her father by her undying loyalty to the people she cared about.

And she knew her mother's entire approval might be a tad bit ambitious, but Baroness Adler would like Cordelia very much, if for nothing else than her headstrong, unyielding nature and the way she navigated the world of men with such a lethal grace.

Baroness Adler might not state it in so many words, but she was exceedingly proud of her husband's decision to bequeath his title to their only daughter. While she had a certain respect and need for propriety, she constantly also emphasized independence.

And Evelyn had never met any woman who was as cultured and independent as Cordelia, who constantly played with the boundaries of propriety, who challenged status quos and men, and never backed down without a fight.

When Cordelia had sat in front of the library ages ago, right after the Charles Potter debacle, and astutely placed Evelyn's position in the muggle world, Cordelia had nailed right on the crux of matter; what was Evelyn doing at Hogwarts when she had such an illustrious reputation in the muggle world. Even more so, how was Evelyn's absence being explained year round?

And the explanation of the absence was a challenge and it had taken her mother's art of deception and steady loyalty towards her daughter and her father's strength and wit and his firm belief in getting the best of education for Evelyn in everything to enable this.

Evelyn was very grateful to her parents.

Her parents had always been patient when weird things occurred around her, always so patient and loving. In fact, when one old maid had the gall to call Evelyn a demon child and shake her badly, her mother's temper had been…. Let us just say that was the only day Evelyn saw her losing composure. The maid was slapped right on the face and threatened to end and back, which was very unusual. All the servants in the house of Adler were entitled dignity, respect and consideration as they were an integral and irreplaceable part of a household. Besides, her mother very rarely even raised her voice; her icy, calm voice was sufficient to unsettle even Prime Minister Churchill. And that man was scary and tough as …

That her mother's temper had resulted in such a corporal reprimand, Evelyn knew that the insinuation of her daughter being compared to a demon must have rattled a lot of nerves.

The old maid was dismissed, that was the only thing Evelyn knew. And in fact Evelyn only knew that because as a child, she had refused to come out of her mother's closet, afraid of the maid who had manhandled her and comforted by the homely smell that encased her mother's wardrobe.

It was her father's gentle prodding and her mother's declaration that the old maid had been sent far away and would not ever return to harass Evelyn, which had made her come out of the closet into the open arms of her mother and she had wept fully in relief as her father put his arms around him for behind.

When Professor Dumbledore had come with an explanation for all the things Evelyn did when she turned 11, he had perhaps expected gratefulness.

He might have gotten that from her parents, if he did not magically confuse several servants when they tried to stop him or dissuade him and scurried right into their private living room where the three family members were spending some time together.

His explanation was that they were not passing his message to Mr. and Mrs. Adler.

"It is Lord and Lady." Her mother had succinctly corrected. Her mother did not usually rub that fact in the face of anyone, but the gall and rudeness of his entry had perhaps induced the righteous desire of teaching him some manners.

"And they were doing their job. We instructed for no disturbances. You could have left your message with them with instructions on how to contact you and we could have scheduled a meeting at a mutually convenient time." Her father had coldly pointed out.

The headmaster had genially pointed out that how he was here for their daughter and magic and how it was wonderful to see them and her, ignoring her father's statement and her mother's correction.

Her parents were exceedingly patient and had dropped everything they had planned for the day and as they listened to the regaling tales of Wizarding world.

They were not impressed, Evelyn could tell. Not because magic was not fascinating or wonderful, but because the man in front of them introducing them to that world was someone that they could see right through.

When Dumbledore had finally claimed that he would escort Evelyn to shopping if they handed her the appropriate funds, her mother had given him a polite smile and simply informed him that their daughter was not venturing into an unknown world with a strange man they had talked for barely an hour. Her father had nodded.

They accompanied her and Dumbledore and while he was a little taken aback, he had simply said that he had made the offer in light of their busy schedules.

"We were busy for strangers, not for our daughter." Her mother had quipped and watched in pleasure as how Dumbledore's congenial smile vanished.

While her mother and father had been very careful to not let their displeasure slip further in the whole trip, they did not take anything the man said at face-value.

While they shopped the Hogwarts list, her father and mother had made several notes about the wizarding world.

And while they returned with Dumbledore without much gusto or questioning, they had eventually traveled to London and visited the Diagon Alley on their own.

Among many things on the second visit, they had established a Gringotts account, subscribed to the Daily Prophet, scoured the local library and brought endless books on wizarding culture, history, current affairs, politics, professions and administration.

The next few months while she spent time of the muggle lessons, her parents had dissected every text and prepared everything that they and she should know before she formally entered the world.

Evelyn had been aware of the sentiment towards muggleborns and she had become aware of Grindelwald's plight to end muggles much before she came to Hogwarts, even though Dumbledore had conveniently hidden all information about the prejudice and the brewing war as he told them about the wonders of magic.

While her parents had been a little afraid, they had talked about it very rationally and practically.

They were not surprised by the hierarchy of pureblood families. They understood aristocracy and nobility much easier after all. They knew Evelyn could deal with the political end of it; she had been navigating the muggle nobility and politics for quite some time then. The only thing she needed to know was the customs of the purebloods and she would be set.

They had been a little apprehensive about the treatment of muggleborns at Hogwarts, but her mother had ultimately said that it would be almost like training for when she took over their estate. Men were bound to look down on her then and purebloods would look down on her when they learned together at Hogwarts and that she must not let that affect her endeavors.

Her mother had also said that while there would be those of staunch beliefs in purebloods, there would also be nicer, humbler nobles and Evelyn should not let one experience color all the people.

She had also said that while the 'light' magicals had good intentions towards muggleborns, they did not understand muggles too much. Their wonder about muggles came from a position of privilege so while they would be sympathetic to her, it would mostly be from pity or from amusement. While that was not as bad as the stance of dark wizards, it was still less than desirable. Curiosity was mostly innocent and quite understandable and she should not let that offend her unless it got invasive and patronizing, however unintentionally.

And of course, both her parents had emphasized that she must tell them if things or bullying got out of hand. It would not matter that they could not do magic, they would find a way to get her back and the school and the wizarding nobility could fumble around with their parlor tricks.

And they had warned her to be wary of Dumbledore, not to antagonize him and catch his attention in other ways and to slip under the radar. So even though Evelyn was a muggleborn, she had never been as enamored by the great Dumbledore as others.

Amara could not stop gushing about the wizard, his introductory visit, his power, his niceness, his wondrous magic; and she somewhat understood Amara's issues. Dumbledore was very clever and very manipulative. If her parents were not trained in politics and were not familiar with his type of schemers, she would have readily bought into the wondrous tales.

But the fact was she did not. Amara had no such insights and while Evelyn monitored Dumbledore's influence on Amara out of concern, she had not actively tried to dissuade her friend too much because the admiration so far had been harmless.

Evelyn had maintained a solid medium E in transfiguration. Neither poor, nor excellent for a Ravenclaw, so it did not ask for much attention. She did know more than she let on and practiced on her own but she had conveniently faded from Dumbledore's interest.

It had not taken much effort. Evelyn observed and understood things, but it did not mean that she was not timid or quiet or that she did not feel a compulsive need to not meet people's eyes unless she was very comfortable around them or needed to do it as a social protocol. Her curiosity could fire up her courage at times and she got brazen on few occasions but that was it. Otherwise, she preferred the shadows.

Dumbledore might have wanted to manipulate her for her status, but he had not. He was either wary of her parents or he had dismissed her.

Whatever it was, Evelyn thanked Merlin and Gods and goddesses all the same.

She had befriended Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors from her year. There was no muggleborn girl in Ravenclaw that was in her class. Ettington (pureblood) and Wildsmith (halfblood) had been friends for years before coming to Hogwarts and while they were very kind and nice, Evelyn never clicked with them as a close friend. It was quite like her state in the muggle world, where she rarely connected with people.

Stratton and McLaird were another story. Stratton was a halfblood, though with an attitude similar to Aimee Parkinson and both she and McLaird could not take their mind away from charming rich, handsome wizards and while they 'tolerated' and pitied Evelyn.

Amanda Halls, the 5th year muggleborn and she spent some time in the dorms together but when she had discovered Evelyn's highborn status, she had all but flung away. Evelyn suspected that her family had been wronged by highborn muggles and while Evelyn was sympathetic, it was not really her personal fault. She could even offer assistance to Halls, had Halls even bothered to look at her when Evelyn tried to engage in conversation since then.

Her friendship with Amara had bloomed in the first flying lesson. Both the witches were quite appalled at the thought of riding a cleaning supply. Amara was not highborn, and was at most, middle class but she had a very stern upbringing about cleanliness and proper behavior. Riding a broom went against that. Evelyn had known about broom riding from before that and while it had not come as a shock, it was still not desirable in the least.

Both of them had managed, giving each other logical arguments and brave encouragements and becoming friends by the end of it.

Her friendship with Mary Abbot was a result of Evelyn finding her softly crying after Leroy Smith had ridiculed her for her love of flowers in October of their first year.

Evelyn did not consider herself very good at cheering people up, but her learning in the language of flowers had come handy as she sat by the fellow witch and regaled different arrangements of flowers and what each meant until the witch forgot the rude, uncouth wizard and started asking curious questions.

Slytherin, of course, had been a house she stayed away from besides her occasional clandestine interest in the well-being of Tom Riddle.

That is, until Cordelia came.

Mary had said nothing but kind words about the witch on the train to Hogwarts in their fourth year as she filled her and Amara with the legends of beauty, wit and charm of the most unbelievable witch.

Which was surprising.

Mary was not a horrible gossip, but like all light magicals she had been affronted by the attitude of majority of Slytherins. The Blacks had sadly been one of them.

While it was true that nobody except Walburga had said anything malicious to them, the Blacks had been condescendingly ignorant of most others from different houses except for noble families, and while Mary was part of one noble family, Blacks had always pretty much glossed over her existence.

But Cordelia had noted Mary and talked to her and entertained her with a story or two about flowers and Veelas every time she met Mary. While it was not a full-fledged friendship with correspondence and the like, it was noteworthy that Cordelia had not only made the effort to seek Mary out in pureblood galas but also dutifully remembered their previous conversations in accurate and great detail over the years.

This sort of kindness or acknowledgment from a witch, who was constantly pulled by everyone: wizards, witches, adults, children, aunts, politicians, journalists, curse breakers and various other admirers, and who did not even live in the same country as Mary or go to the same school, was a testament to how different Cordelia was from the other Blacks.

And Mary was not the only one. Cordelia talked to everybody from all Hogwarts years and graduated groups and toddlers. If not a story, then you, at the very least, were greeted with a personal smile and wave of hand, or an honest, heartwarming compliment as the witch moved her way across the various ballrooms.

A budding socialite, Evelyn had thought then.

Oh, how wrong she was? There was nothing 'budding' about Cordelia Faye Black and if Evelyn had still been left with crumbs of doubt, they were ceremoniously flooded out with Cordelia and Tom's performance in the open meeting of last night.

That…that was the point of this entire trip into her memories of magic.

Cordelia had been right in her assessment: Evelyn was not naive and was quite observant.

And Evelyn was not just observant in some general ways; she understood the high politics of wizarding world and kept up with it the best she could, which was more than Mary did sometimes.

And on top of it, this term she had actively spent time with the Black sisters and Cordelia, who were really embroiled in the deep politics and discussed them like mundane topics and gossips over tea.

So, Evelyn had understood most of the machinations and power juggle of last night's meeting.

And she could not believe how utterly cunning Tom and Cordelia were. Really.

If her mother would have loved the Cordelia that she knew two days ago, then her mother would have showered Cordelia with kisses of appreciation for what she did yesterday.

Such intricate work at the age of 15 and 14, God bless them and God bless their opponents even more because they would need the blessings.

Those who did not catch the careful phrasing of every word the couple had spoken would miss that the couple had given away information intentionally and would not be able to hold them accountable for disowning Carrow publicly. Those who did understand and catch the phrasing would be smarter and refrain from doing so, mainly because there was no way that the wording that Tom and Cordelia gave away their intentions certainly.

You could not hold them accountable for anything but ensuring the calm of Hogwarts and reassuring student body of the continuing safety of the premises.

But they had done so much more…so much more as they tarnished and obliterated the reputation of Carrow, completely.

While Charlie and Burke were anticipating that the true information of Carrow's incident would spread to whole of Hogwarts and Heads of noble families by the end of the weekend, the truth was that Evelyn had since realized that the whole of Hogwarts would know exactly what happened by noon today.

People were talking; quite incessantly.

Noble lines were dissociating themselves from Carrow, other purebloods were doing the same while japing about it, and half-bloods and muggleborn were telling the injuries over and over with glee.

Carrow was more hated than Charlie and Burke had estimated.

While Cordelia had asked Mary and Amara to keep the information discussed to themselves for their personal safety, other noble lines had likely not delayed sending owls to families. Cordelia had not asked Evelyn to be careful because, she likely knew that Evelyn was smarter than that anyway.

Ettington and Wildsmith had made so many jokes about the entire debacle that Evelyn' stomach and cheeks hurt from laughing too much. Of course, they did not share rooms. Slytherins and Ravenclaws valued their privacy and had individual rooms but their rooms were in a single corridor and even the process of reaching your door and opening it, after the excited discussion in common room, was filled with multiple bouts of laughter. Meanwhile in the morning, once the news reached them, Stratton and McLaird could not stop talking about Julia Avery's poor fortune for landing a drunkard for a betrothed.

The entire meeting was a diplomatic victory of the highest order.

There were a few ill effects; Carrow had a younger sister in Ravenclaw and a cousin in Hufflepuff; Tempest Carrow in 1st year and Noah Selwyn, 2nd year respectively and they were under a lot of scrutiny.

Of course, Cordelia being herself had anticipated that.

Abraxas had lightly joked that Cordelia had made it a business to remember nearly every Wizarding family tree and would be able to tell all of them even the names and ages of Carrow third cousins, twice or thrice removed and such. He had received a quite painful stinging hex on his nose from Walburga, and a withering look from Cordelia, who thanked Walburga and proceeded to instruct Ogden and Bagnold about making announcements in their respective houses to stay away from the little members and if anyone even bothered them a little bit, they would be recipient of quite painful hexes apart from detentions and letters to the miscreants' parents.

They had also announced the same in the open meeting while Julia's hysterics were calmed down after a general note to give the aggrieved people space.

Evelyn also knew that Cordelia, Tom, Anastius, Alphard, Tiberius Ogden and Bagnold had met both the younger years a little before breakfast today and assured them of their safety and privacy with a promise that whoever bugged them would deal with consequences. Alphard and Anastius were present because they were not different than children in their tendencies and Tom, Ogden and Bagnold had sterner reputations than Cordelia.

Of course, this too had garnered appreciation from the crowd apart from bewilderment.

While their intention had not been to gain more ammunition for their defense for not defiling Carrow when they did this, it had nonetheless ensured that the school viewed ruling council as a body that cared for all aspects and all houses of Hogwarts.

Of course, that only cemented further because of Avery and Parkinson's indifference to both Selwyn and Tempest Carrow.

Evelyn noted the commotion in the Great hall as she carried her book bag to one free spot at the Ravenclaw table in Great hall to grab some lunch.

Yesterday's meeting had ended with the notification that the court and knights will not interfere with the projects in the Annual Showcase. Though, both of them did encourage people to take benefits from the court; that of of meeting new people from different houses and years, generating new ideas, and did warn people to not steal ideas and other people's work.

If there were more specific questions towards the court, they could be dropped in the court box and a meeting would be scheduled over a time on weekend if the need arose, though Evelyn doubted the necessity of that as she dug a spoon in her stew.

Cordelia and Abraxas immediately plopped in front of her as Evelyn dropped the spoon back in bowl after eating a spoonful. Evelyn hastily swallowed in her surprise.

"Hello Evie." Cordelia greeted her with enjoyment.

Evelyn gave her a confused look, "Is something the matter?" she asked softly.

"Nope," Cordelia popped as she served herself some stew and bread quickly.

"Actually there is. I will talk since Corrie needs to eat lunch and her schedule today is a nightmare." Abraxas quickly said, giving her a questioning look.

Evelyn just blinked at him and Abraxas looked at her patiently.

A motion from Cordelia's hand as she gobbled down a spoonful of food made Abraxas open his mouth and start talking really quickly, "So, Burke, Titania and I were talking and we would like to create a large alliance of different house members and years for the showcase to actually kind of demonstrate the point of it. Every year, as I am sure you have noticed, people only ever pair with close friends or their year mates or siblings. We would like to bring in people from different backgrounds and years and houses and show that while the showcase is about showing your talent, it is also about creating wonders with different people, not just of the magical kind, but of friendships and fun times and...you get the drift?" Abraxas gave her a questioning look.

Evelyn's nerves were starting to act out again so she responded with a faint question, that too to Cordelia as Cordelia put another spoonful in her mouth, "Where is Tom?" as she completely ignored whatever Abraxas had said and asked.

Cordelia's eyes widened in mirth and she started patting the table hysterically as she struggled to keep her mouth closed with all the food inside it.

Abraxas was gaping at Evelyn, looking quite offended.

Evelyn gained her wits quickly and addressed Abraxas, "I had not meant to offend. I was simply curious because…" She trailed off looking for a reasonable reason, "they are always together?" she finished lamely as a question.

'That they are…" Abraxas easily agreed, his scandalized expression disappearing with a thoughtful look. Cordelia quickly swallowed her food with a goblet of water and told Eve, "Do you see Tom talking to 50 odd people individually to get them to work on a project with him?"

Abraxas snorted and Evelyn shook her head. So, Cordelia rolled her eyes upwards and began gobbling down food quickly and prompted Abraxas to speak, but before he could, Evelyn again interrupted, "Where is the train?", wondering Cordelia's lightning flash speed for eating food.

Abraxas turned to look at Cordelia, expecting her to answer and Cordelia looked highly annoyed. So, she quickly swallowed and glared at Abraxas, "What was the use of bringing you if I have to do all the talking?"

"But…" Abraxas sputtered.

Then Cordelia addressed Evelyn, "Were you not listening Evelyn? Nearly 50 people…talking takes time and I have classes and I also have to go and sit in infirmary and do homework and…."

Evelyn put a halt to her tirade with a gesture to stop, "I will be glad to be part of your endeavor. What are we planning and who all are…"

"I will owl you." Abraxas promptly said.

She nodded to show agreeability, though her stomach was doing cartwheels at the thought of receiving his majestic owl again.

"That settles this then. Orion, Abraxas, Lucretia and Irene Cole are handling communication for the project, so any one of them will owl you." Cordelia nodded in agreement, quickly got up, snatched her satchel and started hurrying off while grumbling, "I shall see you in a bit. I have to catch hold of Ian and make him write a letter to his mother. You would think that I am his keeper or something?"

Evelyn's stomach deflated instantly. What was wrong with her?

Then she noticed that Abraxas was still sitting across from her as he laughed after Cordelia's comments.

He sobered up and offered her a smile, "We are meeting for the project at 2 this Saturday as that does not clash with any club meeting or Quidditch practice or wireless quidditch commentaries or other stuff. Even though it is after lunch, we think it might last till 4 or 5 so we will also be serving refreshments. Although I suspect Corrie is going to go overboard and is going to end up having a mini high tea all the same."

Evelyn could not help; she broke a huge smile at his quip.

"She tries to do too much. I was glad that she decided to delegate everything for the project." Abraxas sighed.

"Was it not your, Burke and Titania's idea though?" Evelyn could not help but ask, her curiosity trumping her rebelling nerves.

"That it was…" Abraxas nodded thoughtfully, "but Cordelia has this leadership aura. When we took the idea to her and to others and finished explaining, everyone including Titania and Burke looked towards her for approval and then to plan, and select and gather people. Tom would have gotten similar looks, was he not busy with Jormy. Cordelia had to pointedly tell us that it was our pet and that we better take charge of it and she was merely a violin and not the conductor on this one. When people were still gaping in confusion, she just sighed and took charge because no one was willing to and assigned out duties to everyone and agreed to talk to everyone at Burke's behest." Abraxas shook his head.

"Just how many more people are on the list?" Evelyn asked, concerned now.

"It is more than 50. But well, we finished Slytherin, which had the maximum people; all the 6 Blacks, Tom, Anastius, Irene, Hebe, Prince, Nott, Pritchard, Arch Harper, Titania, Burke and I. Gryffindor has Frobisher, Alixan, Tufts, Bolton, Sebastian, Marks, Doge, Charlie, Hardison, King and Gambol. Hufflepuff has Babbling, Cadwaddler, Whisp, Abigail, Mary, Vector, Wright, Applebee, Bones, Rupert Macmillan, Yeats, Ogden and Podmore. Ravenclaw has you, Shafiq, Foster, Timothy, Ettington, Wildsmith, Ollivander, McKinnon, Gore, Kershaw, Vance and Burbage. We are left with about 30 more people. Cordelia would likely tell Sebastian and Charlie that they are working with us now and Ogden got on board this morning and of course, you agreed. " Abraxas rattled off names from his memory.

Evelyn was quite impressed with his memory and the selection of the people. The group was truly diverse; muggleborns, halfbloods, purebloods and noble purebloods, all were included. It was also evenly distributed across all four houses and the 2 genders. Cordelia's doing, no doubt.

"No first years and second years." She noted.

"We were considering, but it would swell more numbers and a few members are not very comfortable with including them in the development stage. We might rope in them for a few roles later." Abraxas shrugged.

"And no Bagnold either." She pointed out.

"She kind of inspired this. She challenged Burke over the showcase, something about his idea not topping hers." Abraxas admitted.

"So, he planned an inter house bonanza in response." Evelyn asked incredulously.

"Slytherins are known to get competitive." Abraxas answered with a boyish grin, quite pleased to admit that.

"Too right, " Evelyn murmured, "I remember McKinnon laughing over Corner in my first year, something about not betting against a Slytherin."

"Oh, you have no idea. I remember quite leisurely that a previous prefect went as far as to stage a herd of hippogriffs in the great hall to win an argument." Abraxas' smile widened.

"That is quite bold for a Slytherin." Evelyn commented, a little stupefied.

"Oh, no, no! He did not get the hippogriffs physically here by himself." Abraxas shook his head in denial quickly and then grinned with bright eyes, "He got a Gryffindor to do it."

"That explains it." Evelyn admitted, relaxing in relief as if Abraxas' single statement had righted her entire world again.

Just then, Tom dropped by Abraxas' side. Just what was happening today, so many Slytherins on Ravenclaw table.

Tom looked might annoyed as well.

"Where is Lia?" He asked in a short voice.

Abraxas' smile vanished and he looked worried, "She went to look for Sebastian. Something the matter?"

Tom unwittingly relaxed and admitted, "Dumbledore is trying to make trouble. He has been asking around for confirming my and Lia's whereabouts yesterday. I was worried that he had cornered her. We have reason to think he uses mind arts unjustly and while Lia is no slouch, I did not particularly like the idea of him cornering her all the same."

"He is trying to pin Carrow's accidents on you." Abraxas exclaimed with disbelief.

Tom nodded, his mind elsewhere, likely on Cordelia.

Evelyn would admit that even she had thought that Cordelia could have done something to Carrow. Not because she had a cruel streak or anything, but simply because Evelyn had noted that Carrow had dropped the Erumpent fluid in Tom's cauldron. And Cordelia was known to keep grudges and get even. She doubted that other people had such insight into the Black Heiress, so just why Dumbledore would try to pin it on them.

Besides Cordelia had been nowhere near Carrow yesterday. Nor had Tom. Evelyn had classes with Slytherins all day. And honestly, the entire incident was too much….it was too random and all over the place. No way was it planned.

"Well, Dumbledore has never made his disapproval of me a secret and of course, he is after Cordelia. She singlehandedly handed him his probation." Tom murmured, quite clearly bothered.

That was true.

Tom looked so worried and Evelyn knew that this was not because of himself, it was his worry over Cordelia that was handicapping him.

"But he has no proof at all and you both have several witnesses. Besides, if he dares to move against Cordelia, the board of Governors will hand him his dismissal on a platter. Also, Lord Carrow, in his quest of minimizing damages, would not incur the wrath of House of Black and Malfoy by accusing her. It is a political suicide. Cordelia is too well liked," Abraxas astutely pointed out.

"I am afraid getting us convicted or investigated as suspects by DMLE is not his motive Abraxas. Dumbledore is smart enough to know he has no case or probable cause against us. But his snooping would cause rumors and while some people might dismiss them knowing that Dumbledore is an old manipulative codger, there would be those that believe in it, or at least find it credible enough to discuss it. He is trying to discredit us somewhat and while Cordelia and I can deal with Dumbledore and Lord Carrow or Aurors or even ill public opinion, we cannot account for how students will react. I just don't want to let Lia get hurt by some of Carrow's cronies or female admirers or some vigilante justice figure or whatever. While Lord Carrow might distance himself with such shenanigans publicly, he will likely reward any person who believes in the story of Carrow being attacked and propagates it from the shadows." Tom briefed Abraxas quickly and quite agitatedly.

Tom understood the politics just as well as Cordelia and when he put it like that, Evelyn could not deny his words at all. After all, she was well aware of Dumbledore and his manipulations.

"We will accompany her at all times. You share your classes with her and I will even ask Mary and Amara and if she has to use the restrooms or something, we will always accompany her. People are less likely to act with potential witnesses." Evelyn quickly offered.

Abraxas nodded in agreement, "Let's go find her. We can let the inner circle know and we will find some way to counter Dumbledore's underhanded moves. Don't worry, we won't let her get harmed again."

Tom's eyes regained some light and he decisively gave a single, sharp nod.

* * *

 **AN: It had barely been the Valentine's day in my part of the world and for some reason I ended up sleeping early in the evening and then became up like a night owl. I guess the universe wanted the chapter up. But unfortunately then, I came across a rather dogmatic article and started penning a response to it and then slept off again and then the all day of classes. But it is still in time, so be happy!**

 **This was a little break from the political tangent the story is going to take. Rest assured, there will be meaningful fluff like this all through the story but I am not too much into repeated similar fluff (By that I mean, well the fluff will move the story forward in some way and just not function simply as a break in the bigger storyline. That just annoys me, I guess).**

 **As stated in the previous chapter, a directory of characters is posted on my profile. The directory does not tell a story. It is just there to keep track of things like the houses, years and first names of several characters. All the information may or may not be utilized in the story, but if it is important it will come up.**

 **Few previous chapters are in the process of being corrected from inconsistencies. If you remember any, feel free to PM me or leave a review. (The list of them is not up yet, and if it will come up, it will be a tiny section of my profile)**

 **Next update: a month from now.**

 **PLEASE REVIEW.**


	38. Chap 32:Grapevine, Ovid and Black Arts

**Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Marauder's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

4) **THE RATING OF THE FIC HAS BEEN CHANGED TO 'M' because of slightly more graphic descriptions of violence. It is mostly a safety measure and does not contain anything triggering yet. Future updates will carry warnings of triggers, if any emerge in the course of the story.**

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" **Parseltongue"**

* * *

 **Previously**

 **Tom and Cordelia decided on a courtship ritual and Tom gives her the first present, four warding stones cut from amethyst into shapes of rose buds with appropriate runes. As they both tease each other, Tom brings up Lyra Greengrass as a retort to Cordelia. It does work but annoys Cordelia more than Tom anticipated. Suddenly, Cordelia has a long mental breakdown. Tom calms her down by telling her stories about the four founders that he has read in Salazar's journals. They also discover that Cordelia's breakdown was because she blocked memories from early magicae.**

 **Evelyn details her family history and her observation of magical world including her disenchantment from Dumbledore. She also deliberately keeps a low head in the magical world. Evelyn describes her impression of Cordelia and Tom and how their political skill and word weaving was highly commendable in the open court meeting that addressed Carrow's accident. Evelyn is joined by Cordelia and Abraxas on Slytherin table who go on to invite her to an inter-house project for the annual showcase. She accepts, Cordelia leaves and Evelyn has a small conversation with Abraxas where he lists all invitees. Tom arrives on the table and informs Abraxas and Evelyn that Dumbledore was trying to confirm Cordelia and his whereabouts when Carrow accident happened.**

* * *

 **Chapter 32**

 **Grapevine, Ovid and Black Arts**

 **Evelyn's POV**

Once Tom, Abraxas and Evelyn decided to seek out Cordelia and Sebastian, she had expected that Cordelia would not get as hassled about Dumbledore as Tom was.

But she was. Not for herself but she had grown pensive and had quickly bombarded questions about where Tom had been and had did some really advanced magic to rule out any curse or spell put on him and Tom had to bodily stop her from all the rambling and cursing she was doing.

Charlie (who was also there) and Sebastian looked mighty shocked at Cordelia's colorful vocabulary and were also quite concerned about the news about Dumbledore's plotting. Abraxas simply watched the proceedings as presumably, he had been witness to more than this display of their trust and their quirky relationship in the Slytherin common rooms.

Evelyn had been scandalized with Cordelia's cursing but she put it aside quickly, more concerned about what Dumbledore would do.

"I am more worried about you." Tom simply said once he managed to stop Cordelia's panic filled spree.

"Well, I am more worried about you." Cordelia shot back with her folded arms and an unhappy frown.

 **"** What is your schedule?" Charlie had asked, interrupting what looked like a full scale argument about who was entitled more worry.

Those two were really something.

When the three Slytherins briefed them, then Charlie, Abraxas and Sebastian had decidedly planned a security detail of sorts with Evelyn offering insights in between and mostly distracting Cordelia and Tom with niche questions about the project.

So, Tom and Cordelia had escorts to every class. For the project invitations, Cordelia had been accompanied by Abraxas and Titania. Students (at the behest of Dumbledore) might have objected to non-prefects in the infirmary so Charlie and Sebastian had quickly offered to sit with her for her couple of hours.

Cordelia was going to be relieved by Tofty, who was taking over the infirmary until next morning. As the brigade of escorts had predicted, Dumbledore had accompanied Tofty, smiling his smile.

Though, the smile noticeably shrunk itself when he saw Charlie and Sebastian with her. He did want to speak to her from the impression he gave but Charlie and Sebastian engaged him and Tofty in questions about some really complicated plant related transfiguration. She was sure the query was the product of Cordelia's mind and that the witch had simply chosen a complicated topic purposely so Sebastian and Charlie did not have to feign their massive confusion. After all, deception was not really Charlie or Sebastian's strong suit. The four wizards had launched into a long explanation about plants, sentience and transference of magical properties, and Dorea and Walburga had arrived in the meantime and whisked Cordelia away before Dumbledore even registered anything.

Of course, Evelyn heard all this next day when few members of the knights met before the project meeting after an early lunch to discuss how to address the problem.

Apart from Cordelia, Tom, Abraxas, Orion, Dorea, Charlie, Sebastian, Walburga, Lucretia, Burke, Alphard, Anastius, Titania and Evelyn, dubbed the 'inner circle' by a lot of Hogwarts, a few other people slowly joined them.

Slytherin had just one more addition: Luther Pritchard. He was quite smart and got on well with Charlie, Dorea and Burke.

Gryfinddor had Jade Marks, the female representative of Muggleborns, Penelope Gambol and King.

King was a steadfast friend of Sebastian and Charlie. Gambol was from a light family and she was exceedingly sharp. Evelyn knew that one of the reasons for choosing Jade as the muggleborn representative had been because she did not listen much to Dumbledore despite being a muggleborn and had been quite indignant at Dumbledore's antics at the match when Charlie got injured.

Ravenclaw had Gore, Rowle and Shafiq. All of them were from noble families where Dumbledore's influence was still negligible or shaky. The house of Shafiq was constantly held on the outskirts of the debates of light and dark, simply because they did not conform to light or dark ideologies. Rowles were neutral to dark and Gores were light to neutral. The men were quieter than Gore's bold streak, which was also not surprising, considering Gore was traditionally a Gryffindor family with a few occasional exceptions.

Hufflepuff had Ogden, Bones and Lois Applebee. Ogden was a good person. Bones was very fair, if a little traditional. Applebee was very smart and a very keen researcher. Evelyn had talked to her in the first icebreaker of Inquest.

Slytherin had numbers but that was not surprising, nor unwarranted, simply because Tom and Cordelia had started the base from Slytherin. Cordelia was sure that the numbers of other houses will gradually swell. And this seemed like a very good start to Evelyn.

"We need opinions and if possible, ideas." It was Burke who started.

"All of you attended day before yesterday's meeting, so I believe that you are aware of entire proceedings of Carrow debacle and the information Cordelia and Riddle gave away. If you were not present in yesterday's dinner when the official briefing was made, then it gave the following additional information: Carrow was attacked by 5 different plants and the main injury occurred because of a messed up spell. The Auror in charge for the particular case is Fortescue though Auror Head Bob Ogden personally made a visit for the inspection of Greenhouse 3 as well. The school gave away the charge of Albert to Lord Carrow and he is now under the healing guardianship of his father who has decided not to disclose where, how or who is treating him. Questions badgering them about those details will not be answered. Any safety related query is to be directed to House Heads, and then escalated until it meets a satisfactory response."

There was a nodding and general agreement from the gathering.

"The issue at hand is related but a little different. Some of you are already aware with some part of it as you helped us plan a sort of security detail.' Burke said after that, nodding at Shafiq, Rowle, and King.

He received nods from them.

"The thing is we have strong reasons to believe that Dumbledore has slyly tried to get confirmed whereabouts of Cordelia and Riddle for Thursday."

"We can act as witnesses." Bones said immediately.

"We appreciate and thank you for that gesture Heir Bones, but that it not the entire issue. Dumbledore was investigating independently. The Aurors are not looking at us at all." Tom supplied.

"Not again." Gore groaned, "Can't Dumbledore keep his nose out of something for once in his life."

There were chuckles all around and smiles broke across a lot of faces.

"So, the thing is that we have the alibi and I am sure that nobody would mind being witness to assure officials of that. That is not the issue. There is no case against both of them. The thing is that Dumbledore is snooping around, quite clandestinely. It is going to start rumors and the grapevine of Hogwarts will pick it up. While the students will mostly not buy the word, except those who are trying to peg Carrow's incident as an attack, the chances are that it will affect public opinion. Ill public opinion is not our concern. That is a given when you hold a position of power, but we are afraid that the rumors might be insidious and that some people might try to make Tom and Cordelia pay. While we have taken a lot of security measures since the previous attacks, we are a bit wary still. Also, it is not easy to maintain stringent security all the time and it adds on to the stress of anticipating an attack on everybody who gets roped in. And of course, there is no guarantee and considering Tom and Cordelia have already been targeted…" Abraxas shook his head to convey his worry, "So, we would prefer if the version on the grapevine is quelled before it catches too much attention." Abraxas swiftly told their position and the issue.

"So, you need ideas on how to quell the grapevine." Ogden surmised.

There were nods from the Slytherin.

"Couldn't we hold another meeting?" Applebee asked.

"No, that will just fuel the rumors," King replied and a few Slytherins, Rowle and Shafiq nodded.

"Ms. Applebee, so the thing with grapevine is that it has a life of its own. If we meet the rumors head on, we are giving away the fact that the rumors trouble us. Trying to clarify troubling rumors can have two reasons: one the rumors are true and two, they are vicious lies. Considering that two Slytherin are the ones trying to clarify rumors, some people will attribute that to trying to hide the truth. No, the clarification cannot come from Tom and Cordelia unless they are exactly asked that question openly," Anastius explained.

"People will think that they are trying too hard to fight rumors that are too weak to affect them in any way. So, why waste the effort to curb such rumors?" Rowle added.

"And while all of us have the political acumen to realize what Dumbledore's action might result in, most people do not have that kind of foresight. Even if we try to logically grapple Dumbledore's motive in a public setting, people will vilify it as paranoia on our behalf and slander to his 'greatness'." Cordelia supplied.

"True…" Bones mused.

"We could funnel the rumor mill indirectly. Alphard and Anastius are very active." Ogden pointed out.

"We cannot afford that directness. We need to be subtle. Again, we need to wait till a student asks Zabini or young Black. Otherwise, we are giving away our game." Gore pointed out.

Cordelia gave a very thoughtful look to Gore.

"What?" Gore asked defensively.

"You gave me an idea," Cordelia mused.

"Morgana save us!" Walburga muttered.

Dorea raised a brow at that.

"Oh, don't look at me. Don't you remember all her ideas?" Walburga pointed out quite adamantly,

"I agree that they are a bit…off the book. But they always work." Orion pointed out.

"For her anyway," Alphard added.

"Will someone enlighten the rest of us?" Charlie asked quite pointedly.

"Well, where do I start?" Abraxas asked rhetorically.

"Alright, alright, you can a family reminiscence session later. I believe we had an issue at hand and Heiress Black had an idea." Pritchard pointed out, "And considering the fact that she managed to put Dumbledore on probation within 3 months of her stint at Hogwarts and convinced people about Binns' unsuitability, I would like to listen."

"Thank you," Tom and Cordelia said at the same time with a relieved expression from Tom and a pointed look of displeasure to her family from Cordelia.

Abraxas raised his hands in surrender and apology.

"As Trinity said, we cannot engage directly with the students." Cordelia said simply.

The rest of the people gave blank looks, waiting for more.

"You mean to engage with someone who is not a student, but who?" Burke was the one who caught on the quickest.

"We could approach Uncle but if it is just rumors, then I am not sure…" Ogden mused.

"Approaching Board of Governers is too flashy, we will come out looking like whiners, especially considering we are Slytherins," Dorea pointed out.

"Oh, I am thinking of something even flashier." Cordelia admitted, clearly enjoying this but before she could say anything else, she was interrupted with a stern look from Abraxas.

"No…Absolutely not," Abraxas was the first one to realize her idea.

"You cannot be serious." Tom was a very close second but he merely gave her an imploring look, and quickly transformed it to thoughtful as he began to consider it.

"We are not telepathic." Gore said wryly.

"We cannot engage directly with students, aurors or Governors. We can engage with Dumbledore. A direct confrontation where…" Cordelia trailed off because of another interruption.

"That is very bold of you." Sebastian pointed out with trepidation.

"Why, thank you?" She merely gave him an annoyed look, clearly put off by the interruptions.

"It was not a compliment." Charlie said with a suffering sigh not noticing her expression, and rubbing his temple "Like Tom said, being courageous is different than being stupid."

"You have not even heard her full idea yet." Penelope Gambol pointed out.

"You Gambols just like chaos." Burke scoffed.

"How about I make your face a little chaotic?" Penelope said sweetly but her eyes gave away the danger.

"This is madness…I thought Slytherins were cautious…"Bones shook his head.

"And I thought badgers are patient, Heir Bones. She has not even completed her thought yet and you have already decreed it to be foolhardy," Titania interjected.

"Oh, you cannot be serious. This is not a feminine cause or something. For Morgana's sake, Titania, think!" Burke turned on her.

"But she is right. Cordelia has not completed her thought yet and all of you began interjecting already making assumptions," Applebee pointed out.

"Applebee, I don't know which world you live in but Dumbledore is dangerous. Gryffindors have been a first-hand witness to how manipulative that man can be. He has too many students brainwashed. Black and Riddle's silvertongue will not help them at all. Students will turn on them immediately." King reprimanded.

"I don't think Lia plans to do it in front of students." Tom defended and gave a questioning look to Cordelia.

"No, let them fight a little more. I am used to men thinking that they know better than me simply because they are men." Cordelia quipped, but her expression gave away her ire.

"Tom defended you," Abraxas pointed out weakly.

"How clever of you to point that out, Abraxas? I simply did not see. Would you like to fix my eyes in accordance to yours; apart from everything else everyone pointed out is wrong?" Cordelia shot back mercilessly with a glare and Abraxas flinched. He probably had not been on the other side of Cordelia's temper ever before.

Titania and Gore and even Applebee had triumph in their eyes while the men looked visibly uncomfortable, bewildered and even a little afraid. Cordelia's anger could be very frightening and all of them knew that.

"Corrie, they are simply worried." Dorea said lightly, attempting to appease the furious witch.

Cordelia's icy stare did not soften and Dorea found herself to be the recipient of that same look but Cordelia did not say anything.

"Being worried is a different matter altogether but I wonder if you and they would have worded the words more carefully if it was me who suggested the confrontation Dorea." Tom sided with Cordelia.

"You have never been as foolhardy as Cordelia, Tom," Abraxas protested.

"Haven't I? I suppose it was a different boy who challenged 7th years to a duel in his first year." Tom shot back.

"But you won," Orion protested.

"What makes you so sure that she won't?" Tom shot back, his eyes blazing.

No, he did not like it at all when people underestimated Cordelia.

There was an eerie silence as everyone realized the truth of their words and recognized the presence of their gendered rationale and arguments. Tom and Cordelia had identified, pointed out and fought against multiple of them when the court was being formalized, so all of them were somewhat familiar with them. While most people still struggled in realizations when they were speaking, the presence was clear as day when Tom and Cordelia finally and utterly lost their tempers over it. Evelyn considered just how salvageable the situation was.

Abraxas looked like he wanted to apologize but he was probably struggling with words. No, he was not used to Cordelia's anger being directed at him.

It was Cordelia who broke the silence.

"While I do tend to be somewhat impulsive, a shred bit more than Tom, I will not put him in danger because I was being stupid. All of you know me better than that." Cordelia said after some time.

"And you also know that Tom would not agree to something he was sure will not be safe for me. If you do not trust my capabilities of handling danger, trust our protective instincts towards each other." She said shortly, fixing them with a look and then looking away, fiddling with some sort of thick, gold chain on her neck as her other palm found Tom's.

Well, Cordelia's new statements were true as well. The safest route was an apology but she knew that nobles did not give that away easily in such a public setting. So, another uncomfortable silence it was.

"I like your idea." Shafiq spoke for the first time in his quiet, deep baritone. He had very small traces of a Middle Eastern accent. Evelyn could not exactly place it in that demographic, but she thought it was Persian or rather Iranian as the muggle diplomatic envoys insisted in the past few years.

There was a collective noise of surprise and shock from people. Shafiqs were notoriously very cautious and prudent.

Cordelia and Tom looked at him curiously, expecting him to elaborate.

But it was nothing compared to the looks Shafiq got from the rest of the room. Evelyn supposed that everyone was surprised and rather taken aback to see a man of Middle Eastern descent to speak for a women's idea or agency. (See Author note)

"Stop staring, he is not some spectacle," Tom said in a quite irritated tone.

"It is alright, Lord Slytherin." Shafiq nodded graciously, "But coming back to your idea, Heiress Black. You intend to confront Dumbledore in the presence of other teachers, yes?" He gave her a questioning look.

Now, people were surprised and held looks of wonder as they considered that possibility.

Cordelia immediately nodded, "We are in the position of danger, when and where Dumbledore influences opinions. Students are out because of that and as people said, it is not a wise idea to invite Governors or Aurors to clarify things. The only teacher who is a little bit more invested in staying in good graces of Dumbledore is Dippet, but even he would favor us, the Lord of Slytherin and Heiress of House Black over anybody.

"Besides, I planned to do the confrontation in staff room where Dippet would be absent, but everyone else will be present. Merrythought and Tofty will demolish Dumbledore for even thinking that Tom and I are guilty. They are not only fond of us but they are also quite logical and know that we cannot have orchestrated the random series of events. Foster, Monroe and Hewl will demolish him by adding on to the academic arguments about how we could not have done it. We also had Garrison, Kettleburn and Slughorn on Thursday so they will immediately vouch for us.

"Slughorn may not usually stand up for Slytherins in front of Dumbledore but this would a rare chance where he can triumph over him, with the aid of almost all faculty. He would not want to lose the influence that Tom and I could potentially give him. Dumbledore might be powerful but he does not have the finances or the automatic political reach that we have.

"Warrick hates conflicts and will likely stay out of it. Geoffrey might side with Dumbledore, considering his pro muggle ways but considering that Dumbeldore is pinning pro muggleborns Tom and Cordelia against name-calling, malicious Carrow, it could go either ways. Murphy is already aware that Dumbledore can be quite negligent and narrow with his world view. Hopkirk does not sit in staffroom and Madam Underhill is at Mungo's and usually sits in the infirmary. But if she was present, she would side with me and Tom too." Cordelia briefed out all the reactions.

People looked thoughtful and more or less amenable to her idea now.

"But how will you confront him? What will you say to create a confrontation?" Pritchard asked, merely curious. His questions also served as fine tuning of Cordelia's strategy.

"Keeping it simple. We ensure a time where everyone would be present. Tom and I go and ask for a word with him. When he tries to step out separately, we say that our guardians have advised us against a private word. We simply came to speak to him because we have heard that he wanted to confirm our whereabouts on Thursday.

"I will also innocently ask if he had accompanied Tofty yesterday to infirmary if he wished to speak with him and apologize for leaving before he could. We will add that we had classes with such and such Professors and spent the rest of time in meals or library. Meals can be confirmed by more Professors but we have a written affidavit from Heir A, B and C to vouch for our presence in meals and library regardless and we hope it satisfies him." Cordelia quickly said.

"And the Professors will do the rest. Simple and effective," Shafiq nodded thoughtfully in agreement.

"Ghosts are bound to talk about an argument in the staff room," Jade Marks said. Sebastian and Anastius nodded their assent.

"Slughorn won't be able to remain silent about besting Dumbledore," Titania quickly pointed out. Abraxas and Orion eagerly nodded while Pritchard gave a single solemn nod.

"Dumbledore is smarter. He is going to deny everything and then what will you do? What source will you pin the rumors on?" Burke still disagreed. King agreed with him.

"Actually that denial might work in our favor. If he denies it, I am simply going to say that then he should not have any problems clarifying it with the student body. He should be eager to do it because malicious people are using his name unjustly to slander us. We cannot have that in a school. Lia and I were already attacked and are already wary and there is an interfering third party that is trying to nefariously use the disagreement to further their agenda," Tom quickly said.

"And while we had disagreements with Dumbledore, both parties are being mature about it and not using nefarious means to gain advantage. That clarifies our position for putting him on the spot because we want openness and are not attacking Dumbledore on the sly and it creates pressure on Dumbledore to do the mature thing and announce that people are taking untoward advantage of his disagreements with us. Of course, this also means that we are not the ones who try to talk to students so nobody can target us," Cordelia added.

"Now that is a sound plan." Charlie nodded in agreement.

"And if you first act a bit hurt about Dumbledore's distrust and then make no objections to the fact that Dumbledore is the victim along with both of you of a malingering third party then…. Oh this is going to be good…" Gore clapped her hands in anticipation.

"And then the Professors can insist that Dumbledore regain control…And if Dumbledore publically announces that people are using his name unjustly then all his supporters are going to be more outraged about Dumbledore being wronged than putting their energy on a quest to pin it on both of you. In fact, they might be even grateful for your maturity to talk to Dumbledore before taking direct actions against Dumbledore. I don't see any hitches…" Rowle agreed.

"People with the keen sense of misguided justice will be quelled but what about those who are trying to pin it as an attack?" Bones asked.

"They are going to attempt to peg the incidents as an attack regardless. You think Avery, Lestrange and Parkinson will not try to start rumors even if the Dumbledore angle did not happen." Applebee pointed out and Pritchard nodded to show his agreement.

"And this would help us counter the propaganda from the Carrow party too. If people think that a third party is trying to plant insidious rumors and the Professors confirm the existence of such a third party, then people are going to be wary about whose word should they trust, so people are not going to trust any word but official for this incident because everything can be potentially false. The official word said that there was no attack, so any conspiracy theory about it being one goes out and anything that confirms that it was an accident would be more accepted," Walburga added.

"Yes, because I do want people to believe that it was actually a 'drunken' accident, if you know what I mean…"Gore said, emphasizing 'drunken' as she fiddled with a ring in her hand.

People controlled their laughter and amusement.

"What? It is the truth! A toddler would have recognized the signs," Gore rolled her eyes, unabashedly.

"I sometimes wonder how she landed in Ravenclaw. With her art in wording things, she would fit right beside Heir Potter…" Burke muttered under his breath to Abraxas, whose lips twitched in response. Evelyn herself fought the involuntary giggle that was building in her chest.

By the looks of things, Cordelia and Tom had not missed Burke's words too because they rolled their eyes together in a perfect synchronization.

"Your words hold merit, Ms. Gore. And Walburga is right. While it would counter rumors that deem it an attack, it might just give legitimacy to accounts that explain why and how the 'accidents' occurred. Besides, Dumbledore is only going to quell the rumors that are rampant around both Cordelia and I in regards to Dumbledore himself or in regards to Carrow ; and any official statement would stand as before, " Tom agreed.

"And if need be, I can get Uncle to give a statement to Daily Prophet that says that Hogwarts students were apprised of the basic facts by the Headmaster as well as the school court. So, people will regard the court version to be official as well." Ogden offered.

"I do not think we will need that. Cordelia already mentioned that you, Bagnold, Tom and she got the version from DMLE and Professors. We can simply request Dippet or even Dumbledore to announce that masses should not believe anything that does not come from official sources, that is, the court meeting or the announcement. I do not think we should bother Aurors for a small school scale power shuffle," Abraxas suggested and several people nodded.

"That would be better than involving media or Aurors. If you would not mind roping yourself Tiberius, then perhaps Riddle and Black can also offer that the contents of the court meeting can be confirmed by you, or even the rest of the prefects present in the court meeting can confirm it if Professors need that assurance. After all, you never gave more information or suggestive information. Avery did that on her own," Gambol suggested with rolling eyes.

There was a murmur of agreement from all over.

Cordelia gave Evelyn a questioning look, clearly asking her opinion because she had remained silent.

Evelyn gave a nod. It was a sound plan.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

The meeting in regards to Dumbledore had been successful. After everyone agreed, Ogden and 7th year prefects merely had to supply the fact that the staff was meeting in regards to creating a class policy against drunkards in the staffroom on that very day. Dippet had shrugged himself off of that and Dumbledore was in charge. The meeting was from 6 to 7, so Tom and Cordelia should target reaching the staffroom some 20 minutes before 7.

When all of that went away, they barely had 10 minutes to 2, where the meeting regarding the project was happening. They simply arranged for more furniture as more people arrived.

Cordelia and he were sitting on a table top, just like she liked with their feet resting on one chair. Abraxas was standing on one side. Evelyn was sitting on a chair nearby and Titania and Burke were around. People adjusted themselves in a circular shape of sorts.

He did agree with Cordelia's inclinations to lay back on this one and merely contribute when people asked them to. They had too much on their plate with everything, adding the leadership of a project was quite undesirable.

But it did not seem like that anyone wanted to be in charge.

People just stared at everyone's faces for 5 minutes.

"Oh, Come on folks, you cannot be serious," Cordelia groaned after a while and pitifully buried her head in his shoulder. He just caressed her hair gently and indulgently.

"Now, what happened?" Alphard asked in confusion.

"Will somebody talk?" Cordelia hissed aggressively, peeping out from the crook of his shoulder.

"I will do it," Abraxas quickly volunteered, realizing that Cordelia's patience was immensely short already.

"Hello, everyone! Thank you for coming. As we told you in the brief meeting we had to tell you about the project and in our very short missive, a bunch of us in Slytherin had an idea…" he broke off at the pointed glare of Cordelia and amended quickly, "which does not include Cordelia and Tom, that we should do something that involves all houses, most years and an assortment of people from different backgrounds and genders to create something to present in the showcase. You will see that we have attempted to be as inclusive as we could. However, we are open to suggestions to add more people. This meeting is simply to gauge the interest, time and energy people are willing to put in and chart a plan of sorts. At the same time, we would also like to discuss major ideas because we have not really discussed what everyone would like to do. Lucretia suggested that we do a little bit of everything, as in incorporate everyone's ideas to create a bigger project and Irene and Titania and even Burke liked that. So yeah, talk, before Corrie hexes somebody…" Abraxas completed a tad bit nervously as he threw a quick glance to Tom and Cordelia to insure that Cordelia was not reaching for her wand.

"Well, we could make a niche potion." Vance suggested.

"It has to be aesthetically pleasing..." Sebastian said blandly.

"Creating a workable potion is an art Longbottom. It is not Vance's fault that you are too thick to see it." Prince said quite sardonically.

Before it dissolved into an argument, Pritchard said, "Nice idea, but too many people will spoil a broth. A potion would be disaster with so many conflicting voices. It would also not fetch many points if 52 people work on one potion. However, a potion could be one element of the entire project. I would suggest multiple potions but there needs to be a thematic cohesion in the project and also, potions is not everybody's strength here."

"Edmund, Rupert and I wanted to try our hands with permanent conjuring done in the presence of judges. It would take a great deal of time to come up with designs of useful and aesthetically pleasing things as well as great deal of practice." Ogden suggested.

"That can be another component," Charlie said in agreement.

"Runes," Kershaw simply said and a lot of Ravenclaws and Burke nodded.

"Applying muggle math to Arithmancy and Astronomy to create a mini modal of a lunar eclipse or any planetary phenomena…" Wright said.

"Something to do with Lie detection or truth serums…But I am open to other ideas" Nott shrugged.

"I want to look into a preservation spell or potion," Hardison admitted.

"Pranking everybody…" Anastius grinned as Alphard raised his hands in agreement

It earned groans, sighs and eyerolls from all over.

Women had stopped speaking after Longbottom vetoed Vance's idea. Just how pervasive was this net? Tom was sure that Cordelia had made similar conclusions. Cordelia and he were merely silent because they knew that once they start speaking, people will begin to weigh on their ideas.

"A group duel…" Sebastian suggested with a grin and there was a conundrum of agreement from mostly men of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff.

Cadwaddler opened his mouth but closed it and when he saw people giving him an expecting look, he blurted out, "Reading tea leaves…"

Laughter broke out.

"His predictions are really entertaining…" Whisp added with amusement as Cadwaddler turned red.

"Transfiguring and animating something into an otter and then charming it to do difficult stunts…" Alixan shrugged

"Playing the school song on drums," Bolton shrugged.

"That is not magic…" Whisp protested.

"It is if I charm the drumsticks and not do it manually…" Bolton shrugged again.

"Besides music is a powerful magical medium, Mr. Whisp. Beauxabatons has it as a compulsory part of curriculum, "Cordelia informed.

" Well, Beauxabatons has those flashy French people who can't tell the two ends of a wand apart…"Whisp dismissed her.

"I was raised in France," Cordelia told him shortly, "And it will take me less than a 'flash' to take your wand and your ability to see any of the ends away."

Whisp took a step back at her concluding feral smile.

Abraxas and Tom began chuckling right along with Lucretia, Titania, Gore, Gambol, Cole and Meads.

"Let me remind all of you, it is a magical _and_ aesthetic spectacle. A few of us will need to focus on aesthetics… Also, Hogwarts had those classes until 1850s when they were suspended due to lack of faculty," Cordelia took great leisure in giving the information away.

"Would you like to give an idea?" Cordelia now asked Whisp rather kindly who shook his head vehemently and took another step back, and Cordelia's lips twitched as she looked at everyone, "Alright, then I think it is time that women began speaking."

When nobody spoke, Tom began, "Will we need to do what we did in the first court meeting all over again? Your voices matter and you will be heard."

There was a general staring at everyone moment and then Frobisher raised her hand and spoke sheepishly, "New firecrackers…"

Frobisher's business was a booming family firecracker business. In fact, Virginia's elder brother had graduated Hogwarts in Tom's second year and he had been a maniac about firecrackers as well. Her statement was not entirely surprising.

Ogden laughed. Most people cracked smiles. But the ice was broken.

"Ooh, I have a few ideas…" Gambol said interestedly and Frobisher nodded eagerly.

"Animating suit of armors for a physical duel…" Gore suggested.

Gores really did like gore. Perhaps Burke's comment about Gore being better suited to Gryffindor was not just a misattribution because of stereotypes. Tom shook his head and focused back on the ideas that were sprouting.

"I nodded when Kershaw said runes. I would specifically like to create a runic circle that can act as a shield. I know such circles already exist, but I wanted a compact one…" Ettington said.

"Arithmancy of the charm that is on the roof of the Great Hall…a small scale replication if possible" Vector suggested.

Titania sighed and said, "Nature magic, specifically, using Flute based music to control herbs and making them grow or obey directions. Could be very useful for herbs that have slow growths,"

"Magical weaving and design…"Tufts said

"Waltz…I suppose I could charm fruits to do an entire routine…" Babbling said.

"Sculpting life size models of major and rare plants for donation to the school." Abigail suggested.

"Using runes to create a usable tool…maybe a sensor or sneakoscope" Foster said.

"Building famous miniature structures in a given amount of time using levitation and sticking charms…" Jade mused.

"I am rather good at Carpentry…I could assist," Ollivander offered

"I am a good painter…I have also learned imbuing magic to make it move." Harper offered.

"I can create magical paints…all sorts of colors" Vance offered.

"I could help with that or any other complex potion…" Prince shrugged.

"Astronomical charts, the backstories and myths of every star…a magical working model of our galaxy, Hardison and I could compare notes…" Lucretia said.

"Creatures, all kinds," Hebe meads said, "I am rather good at research not so much with handling them. I can prattle on if people quiz me."

"Combat…" Cole said with a cheeky smile, "I could fight the suits of armor."

"I am named Coral for a reason. Give me plain water and I can make corals grow magically and do other pretty stuff with water…" Yeats said, shrugging.

"Dueling…I am trained in the Black dance," Dorea said firmly.

"I can create perfumes, aromas…" Abbot said, her voice was way more assured and confident than he had ever heard before.

"I am rather good at abstract philosophy but I cannot claim that I could do anything concrete, " Podmore hesitantly confessed.

"That's alright!" Cordelia gave her a smile as she gave an encouraging nod to keep people speaking.

"I really like Flying and I would love to do something around it!" Wildsmith said wryly.

"I want to test other muggle machinery, especially electric lights to function in wizarding world." Burbage hesitantly said.

"It would be cool if we got something like that…" Jade nodded empathetically.

"I want to create a directory of obscure magic around the world…especially ancient magical civilizations" Applebee said .

"I, well I wanted to transfigure objects into exotic animals…" Samantha Doge suggested weakly.

"I am rather good at Charms but I suppose I can also critique everything. Now, that is my real specialty…" Walburga said thoughtfully.

"You are also rather good at telling off people. You are in charge of discipline on the project meetings." Cordelia told, her tone brokering no argument and everyone just stared at her.

"Don't you stare like that…" Walburga snapped and everyone immediately shuffled and looked away.

Cordelia gave a superior look to everyone as this demonstrated the truth of her assertion.

"That leaves Shafiq, Evelyn, Lia and me…" Tom said aloud, tallying all the people.

"I will go last," Cordelia declared.

"I had planned on telling a Persian folktale using flagrate to draw figures in air, accompanied by a narration,' Shafiq smiled.

"I can read Greek, Latin, French and Portuguese fluently. I could help research obscure spells or potions or literature from those countries or ancient times," Evelyn hesitantly said.

Everyone's eyes opened a little wider except for Cordelia. Tom did not know anyone apart from Dorea and Cordelia who knew more than 2 languages. He himself was still learning French, while he understood most Latin; although his knowledge was mostly limited to spoken word. That Evelyn could fluently read in five, Tom shook his head. Cordelia really had an eye for picking out hidden gems.

"Parselmouth…" Tom shrugged, "Besides, I am a jack of all trades. I would rather work with everyone than focus on a personal project because Lia and I already have too many going." Tom admitted, and then looked at Cordelia expectantly.

"I have a brilliant idea," She gave everyone a brilliant, ecstatic smile, bursting with enthusiasm.

"Thanks for complimenting your own self, Heiress Black. Quite modest of you…" Burke coughed to hide his laughter.

"You shall be thanking me when you win one over Bagnold, Burke. Show some gratitude…" Cordelia teased back.

"Point…" Titania nodded.

"Alright, what is it? If it is anything like …." Alphard began excitedly.

"Calm down Affy. Secrets are secret for a reason, so keep that to yourself…" Cordelia stopped him before he gave away any incriminating information.

"I think we should do our own production." Cordelia suggested.

"Meaning…" Nott looked confused.

"Theatre, art, acting, a play of sorts?" Pritchard looked at Cordelia to confirm.

Cordelia eagerly nodded, "Imagine doing a play and incorporating all of your ideas. For set designs or live magic like conjuring, transfiguration and animation, or long prolonged potions like polyjuice or sleakeasy or aging potions or veritaserum for make up or instantaneous dramatic effects. We can use magical structures and paints to create sets. We can research obscure spells to create desired effects. We can charm objects and our designs; we can do live music by controlling bands. We can create our own music, we can tell a story or multiple of them. We can try to use lightening, runes and arithmancy to create weather, atmosphere and life like backdrops. We can have firecrackers and we can fly, duel, create planetary models, include creatures, create different smells to dramatize, use harmless herbs and vanes to tell ancient pagan and druidic stories. And use sculptures for everything else and use animation charms to give them life like effects. We can dance and we can create our own simple spells. Oh, this could be terrific…" Cordelia clapped her hands excitedly.

"None of us has ever done theatre formally…"Abraxas said weakly.

"I have! I have done drama, dance, music, fine arts everything. So has Eve, and Bolton's Dad is an actor and musician and he himself has played several parts during summers and before Hogwarts. Eve and I can help and Bolton could do the actual directing. Babbling can choreograph. And while it would be nice if everyone can make appearances, you do not necessarily have to act to be a part of this. There is so much to research and create," Cordelia argued, quite passionately.

Bolton looked shocked with his jaw drop as he blinked owlishly at Cordelia. It was either because Cordelia knew his background so thoroughly and/or that she had single handedly made him, a muggleborn, the in charge of everything on their project that had several purebloods. Yes, his Lia liked to shake things.

"It is a very good idea…I am just daunted by the ambition of it," Ogden pointed out.

"We have 2 months. All of us do not have to work for everything. We can make smaller groups like Dance, Music, Art, Charms, Transfiguration and meet accordingly. And once a week, a meeting of everybody to keep an eye of progress and share ideas…" King suggested.

"I quite like it. Magical Britain has been veering away from Arts and this could be a very good way to merge art with magic. Besides, it is really flashy and it would require a great deal of magical prowess, teamwork, ideation and cooperation. If we do this successfully, I doubt that anyone could top this," Shafiq nodded.

"And it is not just a frivolous showbiz type of thing. Creating magical paints, using live transfigurations, charms and making arithmetic runes for set design, all of it requires a great amount of genius and magical finesse. We will really, really learn tons of stuff…" Applebee exclaimed.

"And it will set a precedent, a very good precedent," Burke said, his face very contemplative.

"Which story did you want to do Heir Shafiq? I am afraid that the only Persian piece I am aware of is one thousand and one nights?" Tom asked curiously.

"I was thinking of picking something from there but we do not have to stick to that. Something from mythology would be more ideal for magical displays…" Shafiq suggested.

"Greek myths…" Lucretia suggested.

"Iliad and Odyssey are overdone and are too long…" Gambol shook her head.

"We could do Ovid. Something from the Metamorphoses, the slightly lesser known myths" Cordelia suggested.

"I can already think of several instances of Transfiguration…." Bones nodded eagerly.

"And Duels and combat magic!" Gore grinned.

"Potions…and sculpting and painting," Abigail had a wondrous smile.

"Plenty of runes and Arithmancy, if we use something of Daedalus," Vector said. .

"And charming a screen and surroundings to resemble meadows, palaces and rivers and creating solid miniature things from wood," Marks commented

" Firecrackers and bursting things for magical instances…."Frobisher jumped in excitement.

"We could even try adapting muggle lightening to create effects of night, day and evening," Cordelia addressed Burbage, who nodded at the possibility.

"We could have musical components; Orpheus…" Abraxas smiled.

"This is way more interesting than truth detection…" Nott admitted.

"And we can use our brooms and fly. Gods and Goddesses did that. We could even use magical carpets or something… and use disillusionment charms to hide it…" Wildsmith jumped up and down in excitement.

"That would be fun!" Sebastian grinned

"I suppose we can even prank the whole school with something tame and uniform to represent the Greek myth thing to another level…Maybe change their clothes with switching spells or something?" Rowle smirked as Anastius and Alphard shared devilish grins with him.

"Smells of fire, grass, rain and the like… capturing aromas and diffusing them at appropriate stage cues…" Mary Abbot said.

"Tufts could design the costumes?" Yeats said.

"Alright, alright! We can do tons of stuff. Let us pick a few stories from Metamorphoses. Someone will need to write and translate them. Someone will need to rework them. Then we decide different departments and a timeline…We also make a list of stuff that needs to be done, for instance, costumes, background, aromas, music…" Tom put a halt to all the excited blabbering and suggested reasonably.

"Evelyn and I can do the translation. Lois can write and Helen could point out philosophical tangents that we can use to dramatize. Lucretia, you are the most well-read when it comes to mythology…" Cordelia offered and gave Lucretia a questioning look.

"Medea and Jason, it will be difficult to execute but it is full of elements," Lucretia suggested hesitantly.

"Good choice! It will require tons of work and magic," Charlie nodded.

"Midas, we can use potions and spells to great effect" Shafiq quickly said.

"Arachne, or Procne and Philomela…" Lucretia suggested few more.

"Narcissus and Echo," Foster suggested

"Perdix or Daedalus and Icarus, considering someone mentioned Daedalus," McKinnon suggested.

"Pyramus and Thisbe…" Anastius suggested as Walburga rolled her eyes at his cheesy choice.

"I also like Baucis and Philemon…" It was Evelyn who suggested that. It was one of the less famous ones. Evelyn must have felt really strongly for it to speak up like this.

"Yes, that is one of the kinder and less tragic stories," Cordelia smiled at Eve as she recalled the details.

"Yes, the only other one I can think is Perseus and Andromeda…" Lucretia mused.

"And of course, we cannot forgo considering the tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice," Tom completed.

"Isn't this too many?" Mckinnon shook his head.

"How about we translate all the shortlisted stories and pass all of you the translated documents? Then we divide into groups and jot down whatever magic or spell we can use and will gain us points for each story. Then all of us meet next Saturday, like we have met today, compare notes, create a master list and choose balanced stories, so if Medea and Jason requires too much work, we could pick one that is easier to do…" Cordelia suggested.

"Do you really want to go to the trouble of translating? I could ask Dad to send me one of his scripts. He is likely to have a translation and a doable script around. Ovid is a popular theatre subject with muggles. You can still tally the translation if you prefer and rework portions if you wish to, but it would cut the work…" Bolton said hesitantly.

"That is fantastic. Less work is good, we can do the tallying and we will be good to go," Cordelia appreciated his offer.

" Also, I alone cannot play all the music…" Bolton's hesitance did not waver.

"Eve plays Piano, Tom knows Guitar, so does Abraxas, Alphard knows Trumpets, Titania knows a Lyre and a flute. I am sure some others can carry a few tunes over some instrument even though I can't tell you from the top of my head. You can sing and play drums. Other people might also contribute to the singing. I think we should be good to go. I would prefer if you direct because while Evelyn and I are familiar with theatre, we have not spend as much time on it. I was more focused on dancing and Evelyn is phenomenal with a piano but we won't be able to do justice to direction…" Cordelia carefully considered.

"Oh, then it will be doable. If we figure out how to make electricity work or something as Burbage suggested, we could even record stuff on a Gramaphone and play them while we take care of other live things…" Bolton easily nodded.

"I can arrange a Gramophone…"Burbage said.

"It should not be too difficult to make it work. We will just have to compare the enchantments of Wizarding wireless radios," Wright claimed.

"That I can arrange," Ettington volunteered.

"I could arrange magical carpets," Shafiq volunteered.

The meeting went on till about 10 minutes to 6 as they started making a rudimentary list and jotting down what objects everyone could contribute and what would be required to be bought. Of course, most rich purebloods took the charge of buying the knick knacks.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

Dinner was quite explosive in light of Dumbledore's announcement of a section trying to take unjust advantage of his disagreements with Heiress Black and Lord Slytherin and trying to promote antipathy in the students.

Dippet announced that he was disappointed in the student body and he wished that more students could be mature in light of whatever was happening and thanked her and Tom and the court for taking charge when the Professors were unable to. It was a little over the top but considering Tom and she were not expecting anything from him and got a glorious approval and recommendation without any manipulations, she was not complaining.

Of course, Tofty had risen after that and said that he and the Auror in charge had tallied the information given by court and that it was trustworthy and completely correct. Of course, the announcement by Professor Dippet was also true but had only been made possible because the school Heads and the ruling council had insisted transparency of information.

Cordelia was sure that Tofty would not have done any of it if he did not feel strongly for it. Tofty had been furious at Dumbledore, yelling quite uninhibitedly at his colleague when Cordelia had brought up that Dumbledore had perhaps accompanied Tofty to the infirmary to interrogate Cordelia. Dumbledore had been told off for pulling Tofty in his ghastly machinations, told off for using Tofty's companionship to corner a student who was so dedicated to the school and then bashed by Tofty and Merrythought collectively for his meddling. Merrythought had gone a step further and rubbed his probation on his face as well. And it had happened right in front of Tom and Cordelia and the Professors had not bothered to take back their words or apologize when Dumbledore had insinuated interference of a third party. Instead, he had been fixed with a pitying and narrow looks from both senior Professors. They knew Dumbledore was lying to wheedle his way out. Merrythought had looked really proud and amused when Tom and Cordelia had used his wheedling to make Dumbledore look like a victim and force a public announcement out of him. Tofty had dismissively said that it was the least Dumbledore could do after being nasty to two 14 year old kids.

Such glorious few minutes.

While Tom and Cordelia had mostly not given away too much emotion in the confrontation, they had to show some of it in the dinner to the student body. Of course, they had not given any version of any events to the students, letting the Professors speak for them.

So, Tom and Cordelia had merely given grateful nods to the three announcing Professors. While the gratefulness was genuine for Tofty and Dippet, they maintained pretentious somber and understanding looks for Dumbledore as well.

Checkmate, you old coot. Checkmate, bigtime.

She doubted that people could see through the masks, though there would be a few people who would still doubt it, Avery for one.

If looks could kill, then Avery would have murdered them with every glance that she made in their direction.

But Tom and she were very sure that the Avery, Parkinson, Lestrange, Pucey gang would not retaliate immediately. They did not have that kind of courage. Besides, they would be digging their own graves in light of how the entire grapevine, Professors and students were in favor of Tom and Cordelia.

But despite that, Cordelia was secure because of the various enchantments on the Slytherin locket, which she still wore albeit it was always hidden underneath her blouse. No one knew that she had it yet but that did not mean that it will not do its job.

Tom was another story. She had wanted to take that locket and tie it around him for his safety but she knew Tom would never accept it back. Therefore, after that darn letter, Cordelia had requested the Head elf to put an elf shield around him. And Oddment had been ecstatic at the opportunity. So, even Tom was quite safe. (Author note)

Of course, Cordelia had expected Jormy to provide another level of security to him once upon a time but that snake had been more of a pain than a boon lately. Thankfully, Jormy had taken Cordelia's warnings rather seriously, apologized for her high strung demands and confirmed that she was going to behave.

She had admitted that her previous masters were not just stern but also quite dictatorial and when she saw Cordelia and Tom's interest in her welfare, she had gotten overzealous in her demands, not quite understanding that it took effort from their part to meet her every need much less demands.

And Tom and she had forgiven the snake. Mainly because, they recalled very well how uncertain and nice and jovial and teasing the snake had been in the winter break as she assimilated herself to Tom and Cordelia's routine. The high strung attitude was a recent addition and if the Apophis promised to work on it, then she deserved at least one chance to bounce back into their good graces. Of course, her earlier version of a teasing and occasional superior attitude was much more bearable, understandable and preferable than the whole high strung, demanding attitude and her constant desire for over-indulgence.

However, Jormy was not going to feature as a security failsafe just yet. Tom had suggested that it might do her and Erin some good, should they spend some time together. Erin was perhaps feeling very lonely in light of her stint in captivity and a rabid mindscape for very long and Jormy needed some sort of a role model.

Erin was also smart, mature and understood humans better because of her experience, so she might be able to help Jormy make sense of her transition from indifferent humans to Tom and Cordelia. Of course, Jormy understood this time better and came from a different part of the world so she would be able to fill the gaps that Erin was likely facing. They would be good company to each other. And of course, Tom and Cordelia would visit for food and news and checking up on them.

It was a very thoughtful and excellent strategy and it had surprised Cordelia. Not because Tom was not a good strategist or not thoughtful. But merely because his suggestion was deeply insightful of how relationships worked and considering that the first positive relationship he had held was with her, Cordelia was very proud that he was able to apply and learn so much from whatever time he spend with her. Because honestly, Cordelia did not think that she was responsible for the learning.

Yes, she had set several precedents in front of him in the form of various relationships that she had with her family and friends and even him but she had never sat down with him and explained stuff in detail about how things worked. Sure, she had answered honestly and in as much detail as she could when Tom asked her various questions but she had not actively 'taught' him anything. His insights and understanding were because of him, his keen sense of observation and his will and desire to learn and understand. And Cordelia, well, she was so proud and happy that he had come so far.

So, after handling the Dumbledore dinner, Tom and she had come and dropped Jormy in the Chamber of Secrets with her perch, basket and toys and rechecked all the safety and comfort spells that they had put for Erin a few days ago.

Now, the chamber was sparkling clean. Cordelia had taken samples of various magical molds and Tom had vanished the rest and disinfected it with the spell she had used earlier. Erin currently spent most of her time in the antechamber, though Cordelia and Tom had entered her nest, cleared and cleaned it up and put a bed of hay and various cushioning and warming charms so that she had a comfortable nest. Cordelia was still looking into habitat spells that she could cast to make this easier on the basilisk.

Tom and she had also found several storerooms. Some had some stuff but most of them were empty and bare. All the bones and skeletons that had littered the entire chamber and pipes had been stashed in the empty rooms. It was Tom's idea to do that because in Slytherin journals he had found mentions of a couple magical rodents, rodents that the current world was not familiar with and whom Salazar had deemed dead useful. While both of them had no time to go through the hundreds of skeletons right now, preserving them in a place where they could go back to them, should they wish, was more prudent than vanishing them.

They had chattered randomly with Erin and Jormy for a while and once the snakes had started talking to each other more comfortably, Tom and Cordelia had addressed the burning question of how had Cordelia achieved the revenge against Carrow.

"Wouldn't the aurors find the poison in the bottles?" Tom was curious.

"Muggle poison. Undetectable by magical diagnostics," She had promptly replied, "They will find traces of an artificial substance at the most if they do an ingredient analysis. But basically it is a poison that starts breaking down in alcohol after some 24 hours, so they will not be able to tell the original thing anyway. The draught for thirst is an old Veela recipe which is a highly kept secret and I also added a timed vanishing charm on it so once Carrow drank it on Thursday, it vanished like it never existed. They will find dehydration in his system but they won't be able to tell what caused it if they even go that far in his body but I doubt that they would puncture his body in such a state…" Cordelia had thoughtfully told him.

"And how did the rest of it happen?" Tom was very curious.

"Through rather questionable means…" She admitted, her eyes giving him the option of maintaining plausible deniability.

Tom narrowed his eyes at her slippery statement.

"A potion," She gave away.

"A single potion…" Tom reacted in an incredulous tone, "You mean to say that somehow a single potion managed to do everything, make that ward fall, make those plants attack, eat his fingers, his bones breaking and then vanishing and. A single potion cannot achieve the entire incident. It likely needed a very careful planning…"

"Listen to me; I did not plan any of it." She stopped him before he made drive himself to the wall, trying to think of possibilities.

"So, it just happened by chance, and you had no hand in it, like Carrow immediately had a bout of really bad luck and all of these things happened automatically when you had planned for your revenge.." Tom was very irate. Not being able to figure out something likely had to do with most of it.

Cordelia tried to be sympathetic but his petulance just amused her.

"I never said that I did not have a hand in whatever happened. I was responsible; I just did not plan it." She corrected and before she could complete her thought, Tom had interrupted her, "You hired someone to do it…"

"No, I wanted to take revenge personally." She immediately said.

"Then how?" Tom stomped his feet.

Cordelia could not help it; her amusement gave way to laughter.

"Don't you dare laugh at me Black…" Tom began again

"Oh, I am Black now…. _Riddle,"_ Cordelia teased.

Tom was not happy at that jab as well and immediately opened his mouth to say something and was silenced before he could say anything as Cordelia placed a hand on his mouth and then proceeded to give him a chaste kiss on his lips, " Let me speak, love. I will tell you everything, promise!" She said sincerely.

Tom's eyes softened at her endearment.

He nodded a little sheepishly as he ran his hands in his hair, "Sorry…I"

"Went bonkers trying to figure it out…" She filled the blank for him.

He nodded to that as well.

"You guessed the main crux of it. I had planned the alcohol and thirst for one reason, so that he would keep drinking alcohol and would need a hangover potion, which I replaced with a single potion. I did not know what would happen at all and was as much surprised that the potion worked so well." She told him gently.

"I guessed it…" Tom looked a little better now, though a little confused and curious as he probably ran all that he had said to her in his mind.

"Do you know Felix Felicis?" She asked him, sparing his mind the exercise.

"Liquid luck…" Tom promptly said with wonder.

"Yes, the potion was similar to that, only it gives the drinker a really bad luck," Cordelia admitted, "In my memories, it is simply called Black luck. Carrow drank about seven spoonful so the bad luck would last for about 3 days, that is until today because by my estimates, he should have reached for the hangover potion on Thursday morning."

"I guessed it. He really did have bad luck the whole day…" Tom said in wonder.

Cordelia nodded empathically.

"That is so genius…" Tom cried and cupped her cheeks in excitement and pride and Cordelia could not help it and chuckled again and before Tom could react, she had hugged him tightly and said, "Only the best kind for my Tom, even if it is revenge."

Tom had only hugged her tighter in response.

The moment was broken when Erin had loudly asked Jormy, " **Zeus, you are going to make me sick with all this mushiness. Are they always like this?"**

Jormy's only reaction was loud hissing laughter and she was joined a minute later by Erin, who had started laughing at seeing Tom's indignant expression.

" **They are just jealous that they don't have a nestmate who is as devious as me…or as warm as both of us, or who is as good at kissing and hugging as we are..** " Cordelia had flipped her hair at the duo of snakes with great leisure and the two snakes had stopped abruptly in their laughter at her jab and looked quite absurd and comical with their dangerous mouths hanging in confusion and shock, so Tom started laughing, and then Cordelia started laughing at the hilarity of it.

" **Humans seemed to have lost their minds since I last woke up…** " Erin said with grave realization, as she regarded the laughing riot of the couple.

That statement only made both of them laugh harder, as they leaned onto each other for support.

" **No, we are just special** ," Tom hissed to Erin in the midst of the bouts of laughter as he wrapped his arms around Cordelia and pecked her temple in fondness.

" **You sure are…** " Erin said wryly and her slit eyes did something weird. Cordelia concluded that it was perhaps the snake version of rolling eyes.

" **Come Jormy, it is time to sleep. Humans have no sense of nature's habits whatsoever. You will like the nest. Cordelia charmed the walls to have funny images of rats and cats. It is quite entertaining to fall asleep watching it. Leave these two to their own company, they can go without sleep if they wish to but snakes must care about these things** ," Erin slithered towards the open mouth of Chief of Evil Gaunt.

Jormy raised her tail and waved it in a gesture of bye, having picked it from Cordelia and slithered after Erin. Tom and Cordelia loosely waved their hands amidst the laughter and then proceeded to kiss each other for some time.

Cordelia had ushered Tom to bed after that. She wanted to use the antechamber for a complex device that she wanted to create. Tom had kissed her good night and after ensuring that she would not stay up past 12, had gone away.

As he left, Cordelia considered the empty chamber.

Chamber of Secrets had been a mine of information and secret passages. Tom had been right in his theory that the ugly and creepy snake mouths led to places all over Hogwarts. One eventually led to the Slytherin Common room after some rather deceptive security measures as Tom and Cordelia discovered. Nine led to different floors: Dungeons, basement and the 1st through 7th floor of the main castle. One led to the Owlery, one led to the Dark tower, one led to the Grand tower and one led to the grounds. The thing that differentiated these passages was that they could only be accessed through the chamber, that is, they were one way.

And that was not the end of it. All the main passages led to these locations but they branched off, in smaller, thinner ways, forking left, right, center as they connected each other and to other passages. It was like a different sort of maze and ways that could navigate the entire castle away from the main hustle and bustle.

Gaunts could not have achieved the entire network on their own in a single generation. No, this entire network was the product of time and the dynastic desire to be above others.

Salazar had created Parseltongue pathways too, just to see if he could. So Tom and Cordelia reckoned that Gaunts had used Salazar's pathways and the ambient parselmagic of the chamber and mutilated and utilized it until the entire network of tunnels and passages had become what existed now.

Tom and she had barely begun to scratch the surface of it but she could not deny that they were dead useful.

The storerooms described their own vivid and often bloody histories. Many of them reeked of the Black Arts and the entire space smothered Cordelia. Black Arts were heavier, more oppressive. She, as a magicae, had a natural defense mechanism in the form of disgust and these unseemly feelings. Others did not; to them, it was incredibly seductive.

Cordelia compared Black Arts to the myth of Aphrodite's appearance. Like the features of the Goddess morphed to suit the ideal of beauty of the person in front of her, Black Arts seduced with the promise and a way of fulfilling your greatest desires, whatever it may be. Immortality, strength, wisdom, family, love, power…the list was endless and as vivid as the desires that stirred sentient beings.

Of course, Black Arts never fulfilled the promise in a 'natural', regular way. Everything had its price. When Voldemort had portioned his soul to achieve immortality, he had lost his mind, his heart and his identity. There was the actual cost and then, there was the added lure of the Black Arts. You could not stop after you got your desires because the arts twisted and corrupted the desires in such a way that you would never be satisfied.

Black Arts was not merely seductive, it was addictive as well. Once you got a taste of it, you could not help but go back. Tom Marvolo Riddle had no chance of not becoming Voldemort once he created his first horcrux, one of the vilest of the Black Arts. Not just because death was natural but because your soul anchored you to the real world, to the cosmos. Once you divided the anchor, hurt it in an almost non-repairable way, you severed your connection to the living, natural world. There were other black arts, most being examples of necromancy. The resurrection stone, though quite similar was not actually necromancy. It did not reverse death or the natural order of things; it merely went to the cosmos and collected the portions that had formulated the soul of the person that the stone was calling.

Creating and calling otherworldly demons was another form of Black Arts which is why most people thought Basilisks to be one. The birth of a basilisk was different than the 'norm' but it was not unnatural. People understood nature and normal too narrowly. The Black demons were not sentient, nor did they fit into nature even after expansion.

Often, they seemed to be made of shadows and darkness but that was not the fact. Black Arts were made of non-material. It was difficult to explain this without venturing into particle Physics. But simply, for everything that was matter, there was anti matter. Similarly, while magic was the matter, the black arts were so to speak, the anti-matter.

Anti-matter is not supposed to exist in a world where matter is the primary building block. The interaction of anti-matter and matter was destructive, not just in an explosive way, but in different cosmological ways.

So, if magic amounted to 'something', then Black Arts were the exact opposite. And describing 'nothing' within a system of matter, which was a system of 'something', was useless. So, every descriptor of the natural world that humans used would fail to describe the state, function, appearance and the like of the Black Arts. The best and most common examples were dementors, neither living, nor dead; they simply were and they fed like parasites on the things that were essential to magic; souls and emotions. Lethifolds functioned similarly. They were just different 'incarnations' of Black Arts in different magical areas. Incarnation was again a futile descriptor but as it were, there was no better word she could think of.

The Regenerative potion was another example. The mark of the death eaters where their souls and magic were slaves to a non-entity was a Black Art as well. Drinking Unicorn Blood, a creature of pure magic was also practicing a Black Art.

Dark Arts was a mislabel that clubbed several magical and Black phenomena into one category. For instance, the killing curse or Fiendfyre were magic, stronger magic, fueled by emotions, similar to other spells. You needed to mean doing it if you wanted magic to take an effect. While imagining a levitation or a light or even cutting skin was easier to people, imagining stimulating all the pain receptors of the body (Cruciactus curse), or ridding the soul of a physical anchor like body (Killing Curse), or even manipulating someone's mindscape (Imperius curse) was a tad bit difficult and of course, it begged for moral questions.

Cordelia would not go as far as to say that magic was amoral, but she had no qualms in describing it as a bit morally ambiguous. What was moral to magic might not be moral to the sentient beings. For instance, Centaurs thought telling and influencing divined future was morally wrong, while Wizards put a lot of force in prophecies. Of course, magic knew and understood material incidents differently, primarily because, as long as the sanctity of magic remained intact, she did not care too much about the regular outcomes of the world. That was Fate's job. Of course, magic played a role in 'destiny' and so did 'death', but describing cosmos in the lesser language of matter was just as limiting as the descriptions of the Black Arts. Of course, Centaurs had no qualms in killing and torture as punishments or as a way of life, while humans were moving towards a stance that frowned on it. Of course, magic did not control attitudes or mindsets; even Death did not have that kind of control despite his power over souls, nor did Destiny. There were interconnected threads of several hundred deities who pulled different strings in different ways. Be it balance, or victory or darkness or fear or several others.

So, 'morally wrong' spells were not Black Arts, even if people frowned on their occurrence or on the imagination the spells needed to be casted.

And people mislabeled certain Black Arts as Dark Arts. For instance, inferi were the result of Black Arts and they were just considered Dark Arts. Several blood rituals were Black arts, and often got labeled as Dark Arts. That confusion was a little bit understandable simply because blood was a potent medium of matter; not quite as powerful as soul but sufficient and Black Arts could utilize it nefariously just like it utilized the soul (Horcruxes).

So, light magic had blood rituals, for instance voluntary sacrifices that offered protection. 'Dark magic' had blood rituals as well, such as blood wards that destroyed instead of protecting. And Black Arts had blood rituals as well, like blood of the enemy, forcibly taken.

Of course, the division of dark and light was not entirely just because it engaged with morality in a narrow framework. For instance, the noble family totems protected and destroyed. They were neither light nor dark in that sense, but they often got labeled such because of the stance of the family that the totem was tied to.

So, for instance, Black totem was dark while Potter totem was light, even though they were misnomers.

But Cordelia was engaging in a tangent. The point was that Black Arts were deceptive in an otherworldly way. So, when the waft of them had pervaded the antechamber as some stores were opened, Cordelia had been really concerned and afraid.

Erin had been so susceptible to their haze and Tom had immediately sent a Stupefy Maxima at her open jaw, making her fall in a heap before the waft got back to her head.

Cordelia was not surprised with Erin's reaction. She had suffered under Black Arts. Her mind had been dabbled with; her blood had been dabbled with even though her soul was still thankfully intact. But the previous encounters with Black magic were bound to be scarring and increase vulnerability. And as Cordelia said, once you touched Black Arts, it was almost impossible to curb their lure. You had to prevent that first contact.

Which is why, Cordelia was so surprised by Tom's resistance. Most powerful wizards got drunken and intoxicated when Black Arts touched them, whispered promises to them. And Tom had a valid reason for turning to Black Arts. He had been denied so much of the good in this world of matter that it would not have surprised her if he turned to otherworldly things, the anti-matter.

And he had. In Juniper's timeline, he had turned to the Black Arts.

But right then, his eyes shone clear and his face was suffering a frown, not from struggle of resistance, but from an aversion, not quite as strong as her feelings of repulsion, but powerful and meaningful. In that moment, Tom valued matter, Tom valued magic and Tom knew and understood that the world of Black Arts could not fulfill his deepest desires.

She wondered what his deepest desire was. Juniper's theorization for Voldemort had been that he had above all desired a world where he could not be hurt in any way. Hence, a way to be immortal, a way to silence his emotions (that were proving to be weakness because feeling them hurt) was the thing he had wanted from Black Arts.

Clearly, his desire was different this time around. And in that particular moment, Cordelia and Juniper heaved a sigh of relief. She had known and seen that Tom had changed, but to see the change so dramatically right in front of her, as Tom overcame a cosmic impulse of being seduced to stare at the impulse unafraid and disgusted right in the face? She was more than content and relieved. The time travel was not in vain.

Tom had noticed the pride, the speechlessness of her stance, her face and her eyes and in that moment, he had understood that how much it meant to her that he was standing with her against a force that she was born to fight.

"Someone has got to keep your crazy ideas in check…" He had said, making light of the situation before asking her what she wanted to do with all the rooms that stank of unnaturalness.

"Seal them with pure magic…my majority is still not here and while I can defeat and obliterate the every tiniest shred of Black Arts, it would be costly and taxing. We will come back to them once…" She had whispered.

So, Cordelia had used a lot of magical strength of Erin, borrowed the basilisk's magic as she sealed all the vileness away.

And since that day, Cordelia was curious. What exactly did Tom Riddle desire the most?

It would have helped to have Mirror of Erised around. The Mirror was a creation of Rowena Ravenclaw and a gift to Godric Gryffindor. Godric had lost his family to Black Arts and while he was sure that he would not give in to Black Arts because he hated them, it was still a struggle for him because hatred did not necessarily cancel the intoxication that Black Arts induced.

Rowena and Salazar had ideated that when you knew your desire, knew and understood it solidly; you could think of avenues that did not involve the Black Arts that could help you achieve the desires. It would give you a mental technique, a solid frame of reference to resist the Black Arts. In that sense, the mirror of Erised was a defense against the Black Arts.

In Juniper's timeline, the mirror had been around but Cordelia did not know where it was right now, in 1943.

And Cordelia was not just curious for the sake of being curious. She was…she wanted to know Tom's deepest desire so that she could fulfill it. As she had proclaimed many times before, she wanted to give him everything.

It was not his inheritance or his legacy or power or recognition…

She had developed a faint sort of idea over the past few days because of how Tom acted, how he spoke, how he saw or looked at things because she actively tried reading him to discern what he could want.

Quenching his current deepest desire would be the first 'official' token of her love to him.

And that is why; Cordelia was in the antechamber and not cuddled up next to Tom.

She had a complicated series of magics to do.

* * *

 **AN: I do not think that I will/can slot anybody just on the basis of their location. As stated several other times in fic, Evelyn is little traditional and has some problematic views about how things should be or are.**

* * *

 **Hello dear readers,**

 **I have had really eventful couple of days. My university is in the process of their student elections and it is ugly and dirty here. People are dragging mental health through needless politicization, are resorting to active bullying and silencing dissent. I almost feel like I am in the TRUMP land. No, seriously.**

 **I could use some solid cheering up which is why, I am selfishly updating this fic. Your reviews will do just fine to make me feel better. So, please do review. I could use some positive interaction. :/**

 **Next update: a month from now or earlier.**


	39. Chapter 33: Tom's Deepest Desire?

**Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Marauder's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

4) **THE RATING OF THE FIC HAS BEEN CHANGED TO 'M' because of slightly more graphic descriptions of violence.**

* * *

 **Trigger Warning: Voyeurism, mild bullying and slurs**

 **Note: There are some references to WW II. While I have done my best to research and be factually correct, if I make some error, please accept my advance apologies. I do not mean to be patronizing. Moreover, please leave a review or PM me and I will duly correct it after researching more. Thanks!**

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" **Parseltongue"**

* * *

 **Chapter 33**

 **Tom's Deepest Desire?**

 **Tom's POV**

They had entered the 2nd week of February without much climax. Sunday was quite relaxing, with a late morning, a leisurely long and late breakfast in Great Hall with too many non-Slytherins at their table. People were kind of excited about the project and well, night was a good time to ruminate and ideate so it was not entirely surprising that a lot of people had fine-tuned ideas or come up with new ones the upcoming morning after the icebreaker.

They had stopped by at the Slytherin table to jot the ideas in Burke's ledger in case they forgot. Cordelia had threatened him to take some responsibility in light of his ambitious bet against Bagnold and Burke had deflated and accepted.

But of course, no one could stay silent about the ideas or the commentary, so Cordelia and Dorea being the kind hostesses had invited every single visitor to join them for breakfast, which had served as a beacon for other people part of the project and it just spiraled a little out of control.

For one, there were more non-slytherins than Slytherins on their table. Not that Tom minded too much, but he was sure that the predicament was going to earn frowns. Of course, the frowns were mostly because of the 'norm', not because the Slytherin table was failing to accommodate the actual Slytherins.

Slytherins, if Tom could be quite frank, were lazy sods, just as much as the Lions.

The early risers were fewer in both the Lions and snakes than in the hardworking Puffs where early rising was a good habit or in the case of wise Ravenclaws where it was a necessity to gain knowledge (because library opened early and well it closed half an hour before curfew). So, on the weekends, the Slytherin table was unequivocally emptier than the rest of the Great Hall. Gryffindors still made it barely to hoggle down food at the last minute but the aristocratic approach of Slytherin was above it. No, the snakes would devour sweets and delicacies that their elves had kindly packed and sent for them from their respective homes.

So, the usual group at Slytherin table was just Tom and Cordelia's inner circle usually minus Zabini and Alphard and Flint if it was not a day for Quidditch practice. Flint was part of the inner circle and Tom and Cordelia counted on his vote on everything but he was not politically astute or interested so he just went ahead with whatever Burke or Tom or Cordelia suggested. Like Tom had said, no original thought beyond Quidditch.

Evan Rosier was an ally but not quite in the same circle. Marius Avery himself was a good lad and friends with Zabini and Alphard but his sister (Julia Avery), her betrothed (Albert Carrow) and the betrothed's company (Parkinson and Lestrange) had forced Tom and Cordelia to be cordial but distant with him. And as per Zabini, Marius understood.  
Nott and Pritchard sometimes joined in and so did Cole and Meads. But mostly that was it, unless someone wanted to show off something really badly (which could arrive as the morning post or in the Daily Prophet) or thwart someone else's show of superiority.

Slytherin was a constant case of power shuffles. Not entirely repulsive but the maturity of his housemates in animating the power shuffles was certainly a tad bit too pretentious. Tom had a tolerance for it but Cordelia's vocalness about pointless facades had compelled him to dedicate his energies to other avenues other than maintaining a tolerance that he should not have to maintain.

Of course, there were a few others, sparse people in ones or twos that might grace the breakfast but their group was assimilating and popular so it had not been an issue ever. Today, even that had not happened.

But well, that meant Slytherin did not have anybody but their inner circle and of course, almost every member of the 'Bonanza'. Apparently, Evelyn had called the project that in her incredulousness at Burke's competitiveness and Abraxas had shortened the entire concept of the project to that word because it suited it.

Well, to each its own but the word had quickly gained popularity likely because everyone liked to have an identity that set them apart from plebeians.

Owl posts had arrived and everyone just took everything without really seeing or registering anything. Daily Prophet had a small section of an accident at Hogwarts but it had taken a back seat in light of Grindelwald's movement. A half blood reporter reported that while muggle Germans had been defeated in a battle at and against Soviet Union, Grindelwald was using that as a giant distraction. As it happened, muggle allied powers had the support of USSR but magical stakeholders in the war had different quotients. Portions of USSR were quite radically 'dark' in their magic and it was difficult to keep track because magical borders were different than muggle ones.

But the pieces of news were recycled on Sunday. Of course, there was a whole series of articles about maintaining safety, assuring safety and the like. And of course, the front page was scattered with Quidditch related news.

No, that day the thought of war was away from everyone's minds. Cordelia had grown pensive at reading a couple of headlines and so had Zabini, but Zabini had quickly bounced back and distracted her.

The situation was similar as USSR for France and Italy. Grindelwald's stance was more about light and dark than magical borders so there were no singular stances in those countries. However, Grindelwald's guerilla attacks and 'vigilantism' (different terms by light and dark sections respectively) were nonetheless not appreciated by any section and he was being thwarted by most magical governments officially.

Of course, magical wars and wars along ideologies were a whole different scenario than the muggle one. The stakes were similar, common people were dying, but the methods and the whole battlefield was of a different kind.

Grindelwald's was a slumber attack. He had started settling his roots near World War 1 and the magical world was still reckoning with those clandestine and insidious roots.

And of course, while the muggle governments were not trying to minimize damage of the magicals, because they did not know the existence of magic, most magical governments were spread a little thin as they tried providing resources for the smaller but spread out magical populations and provide adequate magical support to the large numbers of muggles who were being targeted by Grindelwad left, right and center. After all, his campaign was 'For the greater good' and was based on subjugating muggles.

Most nobles had not been too daunted by Grindelwald, he was but a nuisance. But the stances were rapidly being changed and reevaluated as per Cordelia's information, who had deduced that from a letter Lord Malfoy had sent about political lobbies. But she was still not hopeful that nobles would actively do something. Most of them lived behind warded manors that Grindelwald would not attack. Even if he somehow managed to rattle the order of magical world, he still valued old blood and as it were, nobles were old blood. Even with some of their radically light stances, they would be quite safe.

Of course, there were those who thought such cowardice and inaction was beneath the nobility, but they were fewer and the people who verbalized such discontent were even less. For nobles, this was about survival of their lives, their finances and their influence. Muggles did not exist, muggleborns did not matter, half-bloods would fight of their behalf and lesser purebloods were simply lesser. Of course, nobles had not deterred ministry action in the least but nobles could do more.

They had money, shelters and homes, magical totems and a vast set of magical family grimoires that could be useful. But that would mean directly engaging with Grindelwald and people, well, nobles would not do it because it was an incredibly risky move unless Grindelwald directly targeted nobles, which was very less likely.

Of course, Hogwarts was a bit aloof in this. Grindelwald was decidedly staying away from Britain. Most of the efforts of the ministry were being done to aid other countries and the muggle war effort. Britain remained safe and Hogwarts even more so.

The dementors which had swarmed the Hogwarts ground and the road to Hogsmeade, and attacked him (though no one knew about the attack on him) had been rogue and from what the reports said, they were flying away from Britain and had taken a route that went above Hogwarts and of course, the juice of children's souls and emotions had been too much for them to resist.

There had been no attack from them since.

So, overall, breakfast was a merry affair. From discussing the British and Irish Quidditch leagues to the products Penelope Gambol's elder brother had come up with his best friend whose last name was Jape, everything was discussed. There was a fair bit of teasing and leg pulling and even an egg eating competition between Zabini and Cadwaddler.

By the end of it, Tom had eaten too much and just wanted to collapse somewhere and so had Cordelia.

Tom had collapsed in their bed and Cordelia had sleepily and drowsily joined him when Blubber popped her back from her dorm room to their bed.

They had slept well past lunch into the evening and had only woken up once Nyx and Lux climbed their bed and started licking their faces to get attention, impatient after their long, long nap.

They did not really mind because the kneazles had actually done them a favor. Just because there was no urgency to work, did not mean that sleeping all day was something that they wanted to do.

After playing with and entertaining both the kneazles for a bit, they had settled down in the Lord's study with their correspondence and parcels with the kneazles lightly exploring the room for a bit.

All of it was in Cordelia's satchel who pulled it out and started dividing them into two larger piles; Tom's and hers.

Tom knew that the majority of letters were for her. Her family and extended family was very proactive with writing them. Also, though Cordelia usually received her weekly missive from her parents on Saturday, this time the letter had been slightly delayed because of Cordelia's second letter regarding Carrow. So, Zephyr had flew till France and then had probably rested for a bit before Mr. and Mrs. Black had sent the reply with him.

Tom was expecting a letter from Gringotts, a letter and list from his account manager, a book parcel from Flourish and Blotts, and food supply from Eeylops owl emporium and Magical menagerie.

He had two additional things: one letter from Lord Malfoy and a missive and a desert basket from Cordelia's mother. Tom blinked in surprise.

Now, the letter from Lord Malfoy was not entirely surprising. Tom and he had corresponded a bit after Tom sent a letter of gratitude for his interference with Lord Black at the Diagon Alley in the beginning of the winter break. His letters were also not filled with machinations but a genuine curiosity and interest, and he always addressed Tom as an equal, never patronizing or superior.

The missives had mostly surrounded around concern for Cordelia and how she was adjusting to her peers. Of course, Tom had only understood the reason for that concern completely on Thursday when Cordelia had carelessly admitted that people had been comparing her to a she- demon in her previous school. She had never admitted that she had braved such nasty rumors but it also explained why she intuitively understood Tom's struggles. Of course, it explained Lord Malfoy's concern who likely heard about it from his sister, Cordelia's mother.

But Tom kept this one aside for now. He was more curious about the one he had got from Cordelia's mother.

He gave a look to Cordelia, who was busy pouring over what looked like Cassiopeia's handwriting, wondering if she knew something and then gingerly opened his own missive.

First, Adelaide Black had apologized for the abrupt missive and admitted that while she had been tempted to write to him in the previous month, she thought she was being presumptive in his willingness to receive something from her. Then, it said that all those thoughts flew away when Cordelia wrote to them about his injury. She, of course, hoped that he would not mind her forwardness.

Of course, last week, Cordelia had merely written a hasty, small scrawl that said that she was fine but occupied and a promise to send a more detailed letter by the end of week, which she had sent on Thursday. She had asked his permission to mention his injury in order to explain the delay and Tom had given her a roll of eyes and ushered her to write it. Lia was always so concerned about not violating his boundaries.

Cordelia had mentioned the malicious letter, though not in too much detail.

The letter from her mother proceeded to ask after him, and clear concern shone in its words. She advised him to report to Gringotts that somebody had deceptively used their cover to harm him because goblins took such violations seriously. Even if they would not be able to detect magical signature or the like because it used ingredients instead of spell, a note in their records was the ideal route. Cordelia had suggested something similar and they had packed the envelope and shipped it to Gringotts for an investigation already. However, the advice of Mrs. Black was not unappreciated by Tom. It was quite nice of her to offer it at all.

The last bit was that she was attaching a portable sneakoscope in the desert basket and while it would not be as accurate as the bigger ones, it would still help detect nefariousness. The letter added that she hoped that he would accept it as a late Christmas or Birthday present because her previous gifts were mere tokens as she had not known him that well.

And the post script said that if he wanted more baked sweets, then he should ask Cordelia to request more of something and she would send extra stuff.

Tom pulled the shrunk desert basket and tapped his wand to revert it to its normal size and removed the top pouches of chocolates to find his personal detector.

"You would not believe the scoops Aunty Cassy has sent me…" Cordelia began speaking and turned around with a smile, only to replace it with a mild surprised look, which then turned wary.

Tom was getting confused about it until she carefully said, "You don't have to accept that if you think it carries other enchantments. We can make something up to send Mother…"

Tom took her hand and pulled her closer until she was lightly seated on his one thigh and placed an affectionate kiss just below her eye.

"No, we do not have to make anything up. They are your parents, Lia and they trust and respect you and they extended that to me while we were on break and I am honest to Morgana, grateful to them because they are in part responsible for the woman I love…" He murmured gently but with conviction.

Cordelia's posture relaxed a bit, "That is good to know, but if you feel even remotely unsafe or stuck in propriety, then you should know that I will not take your cautiousness otherwise. You should not accept stuff from my family merely because you think it will offend me if you don't," She gently said and Tom could not help but smile.

Morgana, he loved her and he said so, pulling her in a hug.

And Cordelia wrapped her arms around him with a loving smile.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

She was still perched on Tom's lap. From the snug and firm way his arm encased her waist, she realized his reluctance to let go of her. So, she had remained there as she summarized her missives to him.

 **"** Uncle Arty is still being curt, but I think he appreciated my insights into Lucretia's Betrothal contract, at least some of them. He also approves of the Court move that we have played and sees the perks but I think his emotions range from envy to pride to certain greed about allegiance of so many houses. Of course, he scarcely mentions it but between Father, Aunt Cassy and Uncle Rion's missives, it was not hard to puzzle it together. He thanked me for the quick and complete update of Carrow bit but nothing more.

"However, Aunt Cassy confirmed that he has Uncle Polly looking into any binding contract and relation with Carrows for the next few decades, that is for the duration of Albert's heirship and lordship and is looking for ways to subvert or break them or profit from them. If only he had been open with me and asked me, I would have pointed him to all of them. I made a list in the previous term after seeing Carrow's drunken stupors and all of them have clauses that will allow the Black to profiteer if Uncle plays his cards right," Cordelia rolled her eyes.

"You are going to send him a list?" Tom asked in amusement.

"Of course, I am. I am a little miffed at him but it does not mean that I don't want the best for the Blacks. Of course, there is an added benefit of rubbing my forethought in his face…" Cordelia clapped her hand in mischief.

Tom laughed, ruffling her hair a bit and then she leaned in and kissed his nose. He looked so kissable and adorable when he laughed like that.

"Uncle Rion wrote normal stuff. Aunt Cassy is on the forefront of extorting money and assets from the Carrows. She is not just using this incident but has dug up gossips from ages ago… Aunt Callie is grateful that I managed to get her a letter from Ian. Father was a bit worried, so was Mother and they approved of the move to get house elves to screen the mail. People often underestimate the magical power of elves but they are very gifted and that ensures that people don't add wards or spells against them and elves are often able to bypass stuff that would hurt humans.

"Uncle Polly sounded very scattered, but he did inform me that Uncle Arty is meeting Lord and Heir Prewett to decide the wedding date for Lucy and Ignatius Prewett. Tentatively, it is scheduled for summer because that is when Ignatius wants it." Cordelia filled him in completely.

"And Lucretia?" Tom asked.

"I doubt anyone cares," Cordelia's expression got forlorn.

Tom gave her an alarmed look.

"Look, the Blacks are expected to negotiate on her behalf. Uncle Arty is cold, Aunt Ariel is complacent, Polly and Cassy only care about Cygnus because he is the son and he, well, he had family magic on him courtesy of me, so they think he is powerful and favored. Lucretia is too quiet to argue anything. She is smart but she is only assertive at places. Walburga or I have had to fight battles on behalf of her for very long.

"Prewetts are obviously going to honor Ignatius' wishes more and while they will consider Lucy's wishes, I doubt she is going to raise her voice about what she wants. Ignatius is quite dominant and so are both of my Uncles. All they care about is the joining of two noble families. That is still a thing. I did not speak too much because Lucy frets and I, I was not charging against my Uncles head on without waiting for their responses on everything. Though, I am planning to sneak a few clauses when the contract comes to Hogwarts where Lucretia is supposed to sign it.

"The thing is that I do not have any incriminating information against Ignatius. He is controlling, dominant, a bit brash. The first two are considered normal for men and the last bit is considered a typical Gryffindor trait. Any behavior that I cite, like how he demands Lucretia to arrange her schedule to cater to him while he prances around, or how he got miffed at her about his exclusion in our Court are going to be considered legitimate concerns for him because women need to be subservient and defer to their husbands and I will be accused of being disrespectful to my cousin's betrothed. Because Ignatius has not crossed a line at all in their eyes and well, Lucy is too bullied and dominated by everyone to voice anything. I am keeping a close eye on him but…" Cordelia shook her head.

"Do you need help in looking up clauses? Maybe we could insert a few that will protect her autonomy in some ways; I mean not giving him access to her trust fund and the like. These are small sneaky ways that we can use. Of course, if you need help challenging bigger obstacles, we can tackle them head on as well..." Tom suggested quietly and seriously, "And maybe, I could put her under the protection of House of Slytherin if we cannot do all of that…"

Cordelia knew that there was a palpable relief on her face and she nodded, "I wish I could convince Lucy to talk, at least to me, " She shook her head, "She should know that I care about her well being and opinions and that I am not going to sacrifice her just because of social protocols…"

"Perhaps you could have a chat about what equal rights should mean with all the women. They should know what rights they do have as people and their wishes and desires and words and voice are just as relevant in personal settings just as much as in public setting such as the court," Tom suggested.

Cordelia gave him a curious look.

"Not everyone understands what social protocols is another systematic way of silencing women. Dorea understands it somewhat occasionally but nobody is as aware of the prejudice and the insidious innate unfairness of it all. I think you might need to spell it out in simpler terms," Tom elaborated.

Cordelia tilted her neck, carefully considering his words and then meeting Tom's eyes, thoughtfully nodded.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

Bolton handed over the script and translated verses to Cordelia over Breakfast on Tuesday and Cordelia, Evelyn, Applebee and Podmore had quickly convened over a mutually free time slot and finalized the script.

Unfortunately, Cordelia and he were still coming short of a charm that could copy written word. In the end, Cordelia had taken over an empty classroom and collectively, they had charmed several dictation quills to make simultaneous copies. One master copy remained with Cordelia, while 12 others were dispatched to different houses with three copies per house. How they used the copies; either simultaneously reading and creating notes or scheduling different time slots was left up to individual house members.

Dumbledore had gone quieter. He just came to classes and taught and did not even make any additional comments. The rest of the classes went on as per usual but Herbology, whose venue had been switched temporarily to a spare classroom. The Auror department and Board of Governors had made the decision to close down all Greenhouses for a week for security inspections just to calm down parents. Of course, Greenhouse 3 was sealed further as it was an active part of an investigation.

Madam Underhill had arrived on Sunday evening and had been available again from Monday morning, so Cordelia's shifts in the infirmary had ended as well.

Most prefects had barely dedicated an hour or two over the whole of 3 days. Cordelia had sat for 2 hours on Friday, and 4 hours each on Saturday and Sunday. That was ten hours, though she did not have to deal with any serious injury, apart from a broken ankle and a few deep bruises of idiotic first years who decided that playing tag in rainy, damp weather with icy, slippery terrain was fun.

Cordelia had mostly been bemused by them, but she claimed to have played the role of a stern mediwitch with threats and reprimands all the way despite it.

Though, no one was entirely convinced about the threatening part because Zabini and Alphard had come and accused her of changing favorites by giving away chocolate frogs to a bunch of first years on Sunday.

 _"Oh, grow up, the poor thing broke his ankle and he was so apologetic and he…he was crying…what would you have me do after giving him a nasty tasting potion? Let him suffer…" Cordelia huffed as she folded her arms and glared at the duo._

 _"I don't see how giving away Chocolate frogs is being threatening…" Abraxas blinked at her in confusion._

 _"How nasty did you expect me to be to a bunch of eleven years old kids? Have you seen how tiny and little they are?" Cordelia rolled her eyes and cried out._

 _"Yes," Burke nodded fervently, "Annoying, little buggers…"_

 _"All of you are missing the point here. The point was that she had to warn them about remaining safe while not scaring them off from the infirmary. If she was nasty to them, she would have likely scarred their healing experience and probably put them on a path where they would have avoided infirmary despite injuries. Why does no one in this common room besides both of us think?" Tom had retorted back in agitation._

 _He was angry at them, pretty much all of them, well except for Titania. They constantly undermined and underestimated Cordelia and on top of it, none of them had yet apologized for the drama hey had pulled in the inner circle meeting._

 _An apology was the least that they could offer or 'we will try to do better', something! And while the current slight was not anything above normal teasing, Tom was reacting to it in anger all the same._

 _There was a silence as everyone pretty much considered him, a little afraid. Well, they should be. Tom had not lost his anger like this for a long time now and they were quite familiar with how nasty he could get when he was angry. While Tom regretted his earlier tyrannical tendencies, right this instance, all of them deserved the fear._

 _"Well, that is a valid point," Burke said slowly with an attempt at diplomacy, breaking the deathly and quite awkward silence._

 _Tom snorted as he took their journal from Cordelia and started jotting down something in it as both of them lightly and softly conversed, completely ignoring everyone else. Everyone eventually left them alone._

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

It was Tuesday night now. Both of them were tired and had turned in early.

But they awoke suddenly sometime after midnight as the ward on Cordelia's dorm room's door tripped. Someone was knocking in urgency.

Cordelia immediately muttered, "Dorea…"

She got out, covered him in blankets and called Binny, the night elf appointed by Oddment, who popped her to the dorm room.

Tom fell asleep again. While he did not like her absence, he was comfortable and secure enough in their relation that sleeping without her for small amount of time had gotten easier over time.

When he woke up next morning, quite ripe and early, he discovered that Cordelia's side was cold. She had not returned in the night. That was probably why he rose early as well.

His heart was racing a little in panic but he calmed himself down in a bit. The elves would not let anything happen to her. Maybe Dorea had needed some assistance or something. Despite calming down, Tom was not able to fall back asleep, so he just showered and got ready.

Despite taking leisurely time, he was down in the common room by 6:20. He had an urge to go to Girls' dormitory but he managed to control his instincts. Cordelia was capable of handling things and situations, whatever crisis it may have been. He should trust her. So, he just sat down and began reading an advanced volume on Mind Arts. He had nearly mastered Occlumency by now. Cordelia had tested his shield with numerous powerful and stealthy attacks continuously and she had not once been able to break through his shields.

It was nearly 6:50 when the entrance to the common room opened and he heard gentle shuffles of feet. He could pinpoint Cordelia's footsteps anywhere, so he immediately dropped the book and got up.

And it was Cordelia who entered the common room with Dorea following her.  
Cordelia was fine, if looking utterly exhausted with huge bags under her eyes. She had not gotten any sleep at all from the looks of it. She was not even making the effort to lift her feet, dragging them along across the Black marble.

In that moment, Cordelia raised her head and their eyes met.

Her dull eyes brightened a little and before both of them knew, they were standing a mere inch apart from each other, holding each other's palms.

Tom would have hugged her but she was still in her nightdress with an open and hanging housecoat. They both had no qualms about it but Dorea was present. They had to keep up appearances.

Dorea's eyes had merely taken their appearance in. She looked worse than Cordelia, barely registering anything.

"You are up early…" Cordelia murmured softly and weakly.

'Couldn't sleep…" Tom muttered. He did not need to explain why because Cordelia would understand. And of course, he could not say that he missed her because Dorea was there.

He instead gently asked, taking in the bags under her eyes as he grasped her cheeks in a gentle caress between his palms, "What happened?"

"One of the second years, Orla, fell really sick. Her friends Joyce and Diana called Dorea who woke me up. She was in a pitiful state but even Madam Underhill would not have been able to do anything that I could not and I did not deem it wise to move her, so we sent her friends to bed and I did some healing and gave her a few potions and used some remedies. We basically waited it out until she felt a little better and monitored her all night.

"She woke up again around 5 after passing out at nearly 3. She was better than before but still not well, so I conjured a stretcher and finally took her to Underhill because she needs care that Dorea and I cannot provide through the day. Orla was really scared and homesick and upset, so we just stayed with her for her ease and comfort until Underhill managed to cajole her into sleep by giving her a sedative. After ensuring that she was stable and writing her a note from us, we came back…" Cordelia spoke in the same tired, low voice.

"You should both sleep." Tom murmured, after nodding to her information.

Dorea just sighed as she covered up a yawn.

"No, really! Both of you go up to any guest room in my living quarters and sleep. I will send along an elf to get a fire going. The Dorms will be a racket starting in a few minutes and lasting until last minute before the class. You both are in no condition to cast advanced silencing wards and a simple charm would not suffice. I will inform Slughorn and get a note for both of you from him and Underhill. I will give yours to Luther , Dorea and of course, I can take care of giving it to Lia's Professors.

"You can sleep undisturbed there till whenever you please. It is also warded properly so both of you will be safe as well. I do not trust Parkinsons or Avery or Carrow or Lestrange. While it would be a stupid move to attack you, we know that you are a bit vulnerable right now. Let us not give them an opportunity. I will also duly inform Charlie, Dorea. And I will also officially clear about the elves delivering you food once you wake up and are hungry." Tom quickly suggested and offered.

Cordelia and Dorea both nodded.

Tom gently planted a kiss on Cordelia's forehead who gave him the smallest of smiles and just rested her forehead against his chin momentarily before grabbing Dorea's arm and pulling her along to the quarters.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

Tom had checked up on Cordelia over lunch. She had still been fast asleep buried beneath the blankets and Dorea was similarly wrapped on the other side of the same bed.

Tom had not lingered, simply because while Cordelia would not have minded his presence, by being there longer, he was also invading Dorea's space.

History of magic was the last lecture of the day and Tom was doodling on one of his rough journals.

He realized what he was drawing much later, when the almond shape of the two figures struck him; Cordelia's eyes.

He looked up and tried to figure out what Binns was saying. He never paid attention in this class before and it became even lesser when Cordelia told him about the unchecked propaganda the ghost sprouted.

Rosier was sucking on a sugar quill with watering eyes. Renatus was sitting stiffly with out of focus eyes as Parkinson whispered furiously to him. Tara was trying to do something about Bulstrode's hair, braiding them in some fashion.

Abraxas was attempting to tickle the back of Orion's neck with delicate movements of the tip of quill over it. Orion was fast asleep, occasionally twitching in irritation much to Abraxas' amusement.

He glanced over at the Hufflepuffs.

Darrow, Rickett and Edison were in the middle of a muggle card game.

Macmillan and Vector were pouring over what appeared to be Charms. McAvoy and Turner were reading Witch weekly. Zeller and Caldwell were arguing over Quidditch and Mary seemed to be doodling, the same as him.

When Binns got into graphic descriptions of the bloodthirsty goblins an umpteenth time, Tom just had it. He looked around desperately. The only way he and Lia made it through this class was through both of their sarcastic commentary.

In the end, he just packed everything and left the class. Abraxas raised his brow questioningly and Tom just shook his head at Binns with a roll of eyes. He marched outside as Abraxas gave an understanding nod and thumbs up.

It was a cold day. The raindrops and dew from last night were semi frozen all over and the lack of sun and a cool breeze just added to it. It was quite aesthetically pleasing and it was also not unbearably cold when you were wrapped in warmer clothes.

Tom proceeded towards the stairwell that would take him back to dungeons. Technically, he should have gone to the Study area adjacent to the library, where most of the Bonanza groups were meeting after this class to figure out magical elements of the story as they worked in smaller groups. But Tom had shrugged himself off. He needed to be near Cordelia.

It was not his paranoia or a withdrawal that was making him antsy today. Today was Valentine's day and he, he wanted to spend some time with her. As it happened through circumstances, he had been unable to even greet her properly today, much less wish her his love.

His eyes flew to the fourth floor balcony, one of the few balconies in Hogwarts. He wondered how different it was from the one in Slytherin living quarters. Of course, it was probably bigger and Cordelia had told him that Tofty, Geoffrey and Foster had created a sort of nice terrace garden there, which was where she got the idea of plants and fountains from.

His eyes though got stuck on a familiar figure. He would recognize Cordelia anywhere, so he took a reverse turn and proceeded to enter the garden.

She likely recognized his footsteps because she turned within a moment with a huge smile and dashed to him, spreading her arms wide and hugging the life into him. He wrapped her instinctively and buried his head in her hair.

"Happy Valentine's day…" She murmured in contentment.

He produced the half bloomed, red Rose pin that was still in his robe and returned her greeting.

"It is for your hair…" He murmured, "I just ordered a bouquet as I thought if I went crazy like our courtship present, you might not talk to me. It is in our room and this came along and I just placed it in my pocket for no reason…" He shrugged.

Cordelia lips kissed his nose and then she tilted head to the right side, prompting him to pin it behind her ear.

"That was a good decision, Lord Slytherin," She murmured, referring to no presents for today.

"How can one not learn when they are with you, Heiress Black?" Tom murmured back, kissing her temple.

"How are you out so early? I thought I would come and wait for the class to get over…"Cordelia asked in confusion.

"Binns was unbearable without you," He rolled his eyes and then regarded her seriously with his lovelorn eyes.

"So was the bed!" Cordelia quipped and they both burst into gentle laughter before nuzzling each other with their noses.

Cordelia took his right palm and stretched it up and proceeded to extricate something from her robe pocket and then place the intricately carved box on that palm.

"I believe it is my turn," She said with affection saturating her eyes.

Before he could open it though, her palm encased the top, as her eyes seriously regarded him, "Are you familiar with magical family clocks?"

Tom curiously shook his head.

"They are rare," Cordelia said, "In fact, the only one family clock in the western world is a family heirloom of the Weasleys. During one of the wars, the tutelage to make one and all the other clocks were destroyed. Weasleys have since been bribed by a lot of people to give up the clock so that people or research groups can reverse-engineer it. But Weasleys have always refused; valuing what the clock offers more than the monetary benefits. Every generation, the clock is passed to one sub-family, that is, to the family of one son by a roll of dice.

"What they do is keep track of each immediate family member. The Weasley clock has capacity of 12 hands. Each hand is linked to one family member with blood magic and is activated when a strand of their hair is placed within the hand and instead of the time dial, there are descriptors like sleeping, home, eating, working, danger, mortal peril, flying etc, etc. Theirs is a mantel clock with I believe 12 descriptors. I… I came across a journal in the room of requirement that had preliminary research by the man who invented this. Through some manipulations, I was able to recreate a miniature version…" Cordelia informed him and opened the box with a click.

There in all its glory, lay a pocket watch. It was blackish and silvery metal, titanium if Tom's eyes were registering it correctly.

"I got a Swiss watchmaker to send me the ornate watch shell and I charmed its working and dials and hands. It features you, me, Lux, Nyx, Erin and Jormy. Of course, we can add more people as…." Cordelia trailed off seeing his hand reach for the watch and gingerly open the round intricate lid.

There in all its glory was his family watch. Tom was represented with a thin Sapphire hand, Lia with an Emerald hand, Erin with Golden Beryl, Jormy with Black opal, Lux with Blue Topaz and Nyx with Peridot. All of them were representative of the eyes. Much poetry described eyes as the mirrors to the soul and it was true for mind arts. To give access to the mindscape and soulscape, you needed to look in the eyes. But that was beside the point. In his watch, each of their names was scripted in tiny, neat engraved calligraphy, Cordelia's hand, over tiny, delicate ivory nameplates that hovered over each of the gemstone hands. **_(The hands are represented (in the order the names occur) in the Avatar)_**

The dial consisted of various activities and locations: eating, sleeping, reading, flying, in danger, mortal peril, home, traveling, lost, injured, common room, great hall, library, class.

He just stared at it as Cordelia spoke again, "Not all of them apply to the zoo. They cannot read, for instance. And well home is subjective, but currently I have charmed it to be Slytherin quarters. And well, they are jumbled up a bit and too many…"

Tom just kept staring at his palm, at the watch that proclaimed and told him that Cordelia…Cordelia was his family. He could not believe that he had a ….that he had a family. Cordelia had no idea how meaningful….perhaps she did, otherwise why would she go to such efforts to tell him that he had one and that she considered him one with family too.

And before he knew, he had shoved the watch and box in his robe pocket and he was pulling her towards him and lifting her in his arms as he proceeded to kiss her within every inch of her face and then her lips…needless to say, Cordelia responded back.

* * *

 **Evelyn's POV**

Evelyn was in the study area with Kelsie Wildsmith, Timothy Rowle, Garret Ollivander and Garnet Ettington, working through the scripts for the project earlier than everybody because fourth year Ravenclaws had no compulsory class, when a commotion just disturbed them.

"What has happened now?" Rowle said in curiosity.

"Oh, come on, we will miss the gossip…." Kelsie smiled in excitement and all of them just proceeded outside at her prompt.

The arched windows of the balcony had a wide collection of people, seemingly oogling at something.

Evelyn even spotted Slughorn.

She joined the Inner circle where Abraxas, Anastius, Alphard, Orion, Cole, Meads, Lucretia, Prince, Walburga with Sebastian, Ogden, Bones, Gore, Shafiq, Jade Marks and Applebee. The group easily parted to include her and Rowle.

What Evelyn saw would forever be imprinted on her mindscape. Tom and Cordelia, in each other's arms! More than that, they were kissing…they were kissing each other on lips, not just innocently….quite intimately.

Seemingly oblivious to the crowd and to the noise everyone was making with the hooting and laughter and encouragement.

"Slughorn erected privacy and silencing wards separating the balcony and this side. They can't hear a thing or see the crowd," Anastius answered her question, seemingly understanding her direction of thoughts.

"What is it? What great spectacle should Charlie, King, Gambol, Pritchard, Burke, Titania and I not miss?" Dorea's grumbling voice entered as the crowds parted to let in too.

As soon as she saw the scene, her jaw dropped the same as for the rest of the entrants.

Then, Dorea clapped her hands together and squealed, "This is so great…." And the tension in the entire circle dissipated as everyone began chattering about how great it was that the two were finally together.

"On Valentine's day, nonetheless…" Bones said with his easy smile. As the three Black sisters chattered with each other where Evelyn was pulled and Charlie, Ogden, Gambol and Gore started talking about their chemistry. Cole, Meads, Shafiq, Pritchard, Titania and Burke discussed something with easy grins.

Rowle, Marks, Applebee and Longbottom were in another group.

Anastius and Alphard were dealing somewhat with the crowds while Orion and Abraxas kept an eye out on them.

Of course, everyone still keenly watched the continuing kiss.

Slughorn was laughing along with Bagnold and Nott stood by them, smiling.

There were disgruntled people as well. Lyra Greengrass for one.

A lot of people were coming to Zabini and Alphard with eager faces and leaving with disappointed, hung necks.

"What are you doing? Why are they grumbling and why are you patting on their backs?" Abraxas raised the question to Zabini and Alphard that most of the group was curious about.

"They all lost their bets about when the couple will kiss…" Alphard told them to a general roll of eyes and laughter.

"Who won?" Gore grinned.

"Does not matter…" Abraxas cried, "If Corrie discovers this, you both and the person who won the bet….you will need to run to some remote hills to save your hide!" Abraxas tried to caution them.

"Well, then, Abraxas, you should tell your Father to pack his bags and find a remote hillock…" Anastius said with great amusement.

Abraxas blinked at him and then, a moment later, all of them understood. Lord Malfoy was the one who won the bet. Wait a minute; Lord Malfoy placed a bet on when his niece would kiss Tom…?

"You are not serious…"Abraxas said with a withering look of disbelief, albeit a very weak and nervous one.

"Why would I lie? Besides, lying is bad for gambling business!" Anastius said as he waved away another second year about his claim on money.

"This is insane!" Abraxas waved around his hands in agitation.

"It is. Enjoy it Abraxas, Cordelia is more likely to go after Slughorn considering he charmed the walls to enable students to hear and see this undisturbed," Burke patted his back genially and glanced towards the balcony.

Everyone again started enjoying it.

Evelyn also heard two second years in crowd proclaim what beautiful babies Tom and Cordelia would make…

This was juvenile…so juvenile, the way people were performing voyeurism so casually.

Alphard, who had left them for a bit, returned to their circle with a grim look and said one word, "Dumbledore."

Titania and Dorea exchanged looks with Ogden as Evelyn wondered just how Dumbledore was going to play this match.

 ** _A few minutes later…_**

"This is highly irregular…Public displays of affection are against school policy…."

"The school is over, Deputy Headmaster," Walburga said coldly.

"Besides, it is not a public display of affection. The Balcony is quite sheltered and considered a private spot. It is not Tom or Cordelia's fault that much of Hogwarts enjoys voyeurism, including a bunch of Professors." Titania added to the argument and fixed Slughorn and him with a deathly look.

"But they are still proceeding—" Dumbledore began.

"They do not know Deputy Headmaster. I am surprised you did not realize that your colleague has erected a ward to prevent interruptions to the two students," Ogden informed and said quite calmly.

They did not accuse Slughorn directly but they had stated enough to dropping of an inquiry.

Dumbledore's veins in his neck and forehead twitched but he left without another word.

Between Ogden, Burke, Dorea, Titania, Gambol, Charlie, Pritchard, they managed to disperse the crowd and Dorea got Slughorn to undo the charm once everyone else had left.

So…

Tom and Cordelia were together. Hogwarts, if possible, got more interesting.

However, Evelyn was wary.

The people were not just disgruntled about the bets. There were others who felt cheated just by the virtue of that relationship's existence.

Lyra Greengrass was just one of them. Bulstrode siblings' eyes had steel as well. So did Farley, Whiddon, and Umbridge. Travers' face was composed and a little defeated as if he had expected this but he still did not like it.

Other houses were similarly scattered across disappointment, dislike and disapproval.

Brendon Longbottom and Heir Fawley looked sad. Prewett looked irritated and McGonagall had her nostrils flaring.

Ravenclaws were also in solidarity. Her year mates, Stratton and McLaird were going to be really disappointed. So was Elizabeth Corner. Heir Zabini, Heir Yaxley and Lockhart were going to be unbearable about this too.

Tuner, Diggory and Edgecombe from Hufflepuff did not appear happy either.

The court will have to be very careful.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

She did not know how long they kept kissing. She could feel emotions rolling off Tom as he tried to express it all through his affection.

When they ended it, it was nearly dark. As Tom placed her back on her feet, his eyes were alit with a different light as he cradled her cheeks in his palms carefully.

She could see the struggle in his eyes. He wanted to say something, tons of stuff but words were failing him.

They were failing her too.

Before another moment could pass, they were in another tight embrace until Cordelia softly murmured, "I am not presuming a lot, am I?"

A little hint of doubt and insecurity leaked into her voice.

They separated and Tom looked at her, his eyes imploring as he realized that she was serious.

His eyes softened and he pulled her head as he plopped kisses on her forehead, "Cordelia Faye Black, you are the most precious, remarkable, endearing person I have come across and I am utterly besotted with every inch of you. That said; you are the tiniest bit of a nincompoop too…" Tom teased gently at her with a glint in his eyes.

"Do you love the nincompoop part too?" Cordelia's lips twitched.

"I would be stupid not to." Tom murmured back as he gently kissed her right earlobe, just below the rose pin to which Cordelia gently laughed.

"Well, you are a bit of a doofus too," Cordelia said quite teasingly.

"I see," Tom raised his brows and then asked, "Do you still like me?"

"Like you?" Cordelia said in mock scandal, then raised herself on her toes and plopped a kiss on his nose, "I adore every tiny speck of your personhood!"

They entered dinner some 15 minutes later and there was a sort of suspicious silence in the room. That was when Cordelia realized that both of them were still holding hands and she still wore the red rose pin in her hair and it was Valentine's Day.

Of course, people were not clueless. Of course, people were a bit stupefied about what to say or do. Of course, they were also going to talk, eventually.

Hers and Tom's eyes met briefly. They did a tiny shrug and joined their friends at Slytherin. It was bound to come out eventually and honestly, they were tired to people staking claims on them publicly.

Nobody mentioned that they were together or questioned them about it but the general sense was of happiness for them.

Cordelia did not eat much. She and Dorea had a late meal when they woke up and her stomach did not have much room.

She chattered with Dorea and Titania and egged on Flint as he, for a change, made a mickey out of Burke. Pritchard helped.

Tom and Abraxas were whispering about Binns. Their lobbying had worked. Currently, the board of governors was wondering whether to involve the spirit division of Department of Regulation of Magical Creatures. Francis Osbert, the in charge of the spirit division, was a bit thick in the head. As the analysis of Heirs and Lords had decreed Binns to be deliberately spiteful and vicious, they were wary of releasing him out of Hogwarts. That could do more harm if Binns managed to influence or retaliate. The other option was a sort of spirit trap or in the worst case scenario, an exorcism. They were still weighing their options and wanted Osbert to do exactly what they wanted. And that would take some political maneuvering.

Cordelia squeezed Tom's hand and left the table when she realized that she had not seen Nyx and Lux for a while and the kittens probably needed some attention. Most of the hall was still eating. Tom had given her a concerned look but when he saw her fingers reaching for the Slytherin locket, he had relaxed. He knew she won't be harmed even if she navigated the space alone.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

In her giant bubble of happiness, Cordelia forgot something. She did not tally the people who were missing in the great hall.

So, when she entered the Slytherin dorm, she was surprised to see Lyra Greengrass, with blood and rage in her eyes glaring down at her.

Cordelia just considered the girl and almost snorted, but she maintained the decorum, "Can I help you Ms. Greengrass?"

"How dare you?" Greengrass gritted her teeth in agitation.

Cordelia just raised her brow.

"How dare you lay your filthy paws on Lord Slytherin? What do you think…you will just swing into Hogwarts, enchant him with your unnaturally good looks and you will gain more social power? What did you think….He is mine…I laid my eyes on him first? But you are so characterless, so utterly wanton that you could not just stay, could you? You had to have the wizard who was the most handsome of all, who had so much power. Charming the pureblood society was not enough…making all of us look plain in front of you was not enough….you had to come, charge in, take over my love and rub it my face by vulgarly kissing him for everyone to see?" Greengrass hissed in anger, pointing her finger at Cordelia.

Cordelia's brows were so high that they almost touched her hair. Cordelia would have taken accusations seriously if Greengrass was not so obviously dense, hence, this rant more of amused Cordelia. She refrained from giving in the urge to twitch her lips to give away the fact that just how ridiculous this was. For the same reason, she did not say anything either. This was just so below her intellect.

She understood Greengrass' urgency to land a decent husband. The girl had been brought up with probably one goal in mind; to marry a rich, handsome and powerful wizard. She did not know any different, which was why Cordelia was refraining from destroying the woman in her verbiage. Just because she did not get Lyra's priorities did not mean that she had a right to be condescending about it by default. However, Greengrass was crossing several lines by accusing Cordelia of vulgarity and wantonness. Yes, Cordelia had not expected to receive the same consideration that she was extending Greengrass but she had expected certain decorum.

"What are you looking like that? Cat got your tongue or you lost it when you seduced Lord Slytherin to play with it?" Greengrass hissed.

The nerve of this girl…

Cordelia froze because if she moved, Lyra Greengrass would be so injured…

She calmed down and merely said in a measured tone, "This is not worth my time."

She swung around and moved towards the giant fireplace but was bodily stopped and pulled back by her shoulder by Greengrass.

The Slytherin locket swung out from her blouse and the egg shaped locket came to a rest outside of her blouse on her bosom.

"Where did you get that? You stole it, you stole Slytherin's legacy. Now you have done it you whore, you are not just wanton and characterless about your personal honor, you are also a thief…" Greengrass raised her wand and before she could do anything, a burst of powerful magic from the locket blasted her onto the circular firepit, knocking the wind out and burning a lot of layers and volume of her precious honey blonde and blemishing her skin with soot and…

The door to the common room opened and in came several people, supporters of both the witches.

Cordelia stood calmly, as the magic of the locket encased her in a strong goblin and runic magical shield, untouchable by anything and anyone.

And Greengrass wailed in pity, pointing fingers at her, screaming hysterically about Cordelia being a whore, being a thief, being characterless.

Everyone watched by, not completely understanding anything but that did not stop their inner circle from forming a protective circle around her.

It did not stop Julia, Renatus, the Parkinsons,Violetta Bulstrode and Farley to hurl acccusations and even curses at them.

It all went on until the person whom Cordelia really wanted to see, came and blasted everyone on the other side to the other end of the room.

Tom's wand was pointed at Lyra, he was furious, the veins in his neck throbbing, his palms and fingers shaking in rage. His other palm found hers, as others separated to let him give access and he pulled her tenderly into an embrace to assure himself of her safety, her shield subsiding to allow it. Tom would not hurt her.

Cordelia felt a strange calm take over at his presence. He was here, he was here. This time no one would call her unjustifiable names and get away with it, not because she would not let them but because Tom would not let them.

"What is the meaning of this?" Tom hissed in English, his anger shining and the threatening sibilants of Parseltongue making an appearance.

The other gang was properly disarmed by Tom's spell and Dorea and Titania had used summoning charms to throw those wands out of reach.

"She is a freaking whore, a seductive veela, she has ensnared you with love potions or her evil magic and she even stole the legendary Slytherin locket and was stupid and cocky enough to wear it, thinking no one would notice, no one would question the freaking queen of Hogwarts….And when I held her responsible, she threw me across the room. Look at her smug face….you must see the truth Tom." Lyra yelled hysterically, her tears, perhaps genuine, rolling down her cheeks seamlessly.

"That is Lord Slytherin to you, Ms. Greengrass." Tom quietly said, "Moreover, if I hear one deplorable and unjustified address referring to Cordelia, I will burn your tongue in accordance to the number of your utterances."

Lyra gaped at him.

"See, she has ensnared you, and all of her cousins are in on the game…" Aimee yelled.

"How you grew up in a noble family, Ms. Parkinson, I would not know. I am wearing an ancient lord ring. Mind Compulsions are useless against that and that includes love potions and any veela charm." Tom replied back with a deathly calm.

"While both of us owe you no explanation, I will say a few things right now and if you value your hide, life and safety, you will not question it or attack either of us about it. Cordelia and I are very much in love, we have been in a courtship for a while. We do not care what you think, we do not care when you mind, and we also have no interests in entertaining any other suitors.

"The locket of Slytherin was a present to Cordelia. Yes, I gave it to her even before we confessed our love for each other. That is how important she is to me. The locket is encased with Slytherin family magic and other numerous shields and it reacts in accordance to any threat and its size. So, the magic that threw you across the room was mine and it deterred you because you wished or intended to harm Cordelia bodily.

"We are reporting the incident, the harm you intended and the accusations and profanity you flung to Prof Slughorn, our Head of house, and the Headmaster and also to the Board of Governors, including the Head of the Governors, that is, Lord Black. We will also be duly writing to your father and the Greengrass Head of house for exact proportionate penalty that you and your house hold to Cordelia and her house, and the penalty you hold to the nobility, and the penalty you hold to the house of Greengrass for your attitude and lack of respect. Am I clear?" Tom's said slowly, enunciating every word in an address that demanded attention and compliance.

The face of Greengrass was white and everyone was frozen.

"Moreover, I am giving everyone who raised the wand against Cordelia a free pass right now because it can be argued that you did not know anything and were just reacting. Rest assured, if you raise it another time, you will not just get a legal or disciplinary warning/punishment. Consider it your last warning. If even a modicum of this repeats, you will have to reckon with what my magic does to you. Ms. Parkinson, ask your Head of house to expect a fine and warning in regards to you." Tom ended with solid strong roving eyes on everyone, "Understood?"

Lestrange reached for his wand but before he could, the Black totem appeared and hissed warningly over him and he dropped the wand with trembling fingers.

"Herbert, Titania, if one of you would be kind enough to bring in Slughorn?" Tom gently requested.

Burke gave a sharp nod and left.

Cordelia's green eyes shone in threat and power. She had not removed her unnerving gaze from Greengrass for even a moment. Not even when she called the black totem wandlessly, bloodlessly and non-verbally.

Tom and she still held each other's hand strongly.

The Black totem returned to her, lightly wrapping itself around her right arm and using her right shoulder as the base.

She did not think that they would have any more disgruntlement about them being together.

* * *

 **Hello dear readers,**

 **This is yet another update before the mark of a month passes. Today is my birthday and I updated the fic last time on this day as well.**

 **This Chapter is meant as a thank you for the support, constructive criticisms, love and respect I have received from this community and all of my readers. I am a better person and a writer today because I chose to write for this fandom and you all stopped by to read, comment and wish me luck. Your support and understanding through my struggles not just as a writer but with my health is greatly appreciated and loved.**

 **I hope to do even better in coming years and I hope you can stick by and more people join us and stop by.**

 **Thanks a ton,**

 **With love and hugs,**

 **Katoptris**

 **Next Update: A month from now**


	40. Chapter 34: The First Majority

**Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Marauder's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

4) **THE RATING OF THE FIC HAS BEEN CHANGED TO 'M' because of slightly more graphic descriptions of violence. It is mostly a safety measure and does not contain anything triggering yet. Future updates will carry warnings of triggers, if any emerge in the course of the story.**

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" **Parseltongue"**

* * *

 **Previously**

 ** _It was Valentine's day and Cordelia presented Tom with a pocket family watch that featured her, him, Lux, Nyx, Jormy and Erin. Tom lifts up Cordelia and kisses her in a balcony on 4_** ** _th_** ** _floor. However, they did not know that most of the school engaged in voyeurism and was a witness to it. Tom and Cordelia come out to school officially at dinner. Lyra Greengrass confronts Cordelia, verbally abuses her. Tries to get physical but Slytherin's locket throws her across the room. Conundrum in Slytherin Dorms follows._**

* * *

 **Chapter 34**

 **The First Majority**

 **Tom's POV**

Time slowed down or quickened, Tom was not quite sure.

Cordelia, as the heiress had written to Lord Greengrass, and that letter was accompanied by signed and sealed missives of Heir Burke, Malfoy, Nott, Rosier, Travers, Flint and Heiress Prince. Moreover, Titania and Zabini had sent along support as a daughter and a son of an Ancient and Noble house.

Heir Avery had expressed apology on behalf of his sister Julia, and thanked Tom and Cordelia for exercising mercy the next morning.

Daniel Greengrass, the heir of the house of Greengrass was a mere first year in Slytherin and he had been very afraid (his and Cordelia's magic were too powerful) but he had kept the decorum in check and had immediately apologized to Cordelia.

Lyra had given her younger brother a disbelief filled death look but it was Densel Bulstrode's cue that made her shut up. Even Lestrange and Parkinson were silent.

So, Daniel Greengrass had also written to his father. From what Anastius had said later, Daniel Greengrass was one of the kids whom Cordelia had treated in in the infirmary and he liked her.

Slughorn had come and so had Dippet. Speechless and wordless, their personal letters were added to the mix as all prefects reported the exact events to them.

Tom had added that the locket was charmed by Goblins and a letter from goblins was sent along to the headmaster about the locket's capabilities and in her postscript, Cordelia had mentioned that the veracity of her statements about the locket was verifiable through Gringotts.

Parkinsons were similarly addressed, though Heir Parkinson, that is Perseus had not apologized on his sister's behalf.

Most of the house had been in daze, even the Blacks and Abraxas.

It seemed unreal; all of it. Just like the aftermath on the stunning spell on Cordelia.

There was a disciplinary action. Greengrass and female Parkinson were on a house arrest within their rooms until the impeding inquiry, which was scheduled the next day.

They had received words from most Governors within a couple of hours and let us just say that Lords Black, Malfoy, Burke, Longbottom, Potter, Bones, Ogden, Rowle and Macmillan were not happy at all.

The only one remaining was Yaxley.

Yaxley, well that house had been in toes with Cordelia's family from prior; a sort of a mild rivalry between the current Lord and Cordelia's father over warding. Tom was not particularly sure but he vaguely remembered something about Lord Malfoy being closer to his sister's family (Altair Black and Blacks), than his wife's (who had been Lord Yaxley's sister), and how that had not settled well with Lord Yaxley in the least.

But one vote did not matter too much. In fact, Lord Yaxley could not possibly give a biased vote in light of the clear evidence and testimonies. Especially considering the fact that Yaxley and Macmillan were both temporary members who had been elected and nominated by the permanent members of the board. One biased move and they would be out before they could blink.

That is how it happened.

The Board and the two school representatives (Headmaster and Deputy Headmaster) had met. Everyone had voted in Cordelia's favor, even Deputy Headmaster Dumbledore.

Perhaps, Dumbledore was trying to come back to good graces or perhaps, he had realized that aligning himself against a sinking craft was foolish.

Cordelia had received a solid apology from Lord Greengrass, a scant one from Lord Parkinson and even a diplomatic plea from house of Avery, who was desperate post the whole Carrow incident.

Lord Greengrass had arrived over the weekend to pick up his daughter, who had been suspended for the rest of the school year. Lyra would even have to go to Ministry to appear for her OWLS.

He had also sincerely apologized to Cordelia in person and had thanked her for healing his son and helping him out with his homework occasionally. Apparently, Daniel Greengrass mentioned her and Titania and their nice, loving support a lot in his letters.

Cordelia had graciously accepted it and chatted with him about Daniel's strengths and interests.

The look with which he had held her daughter had given away how displeased, disappointed and tired he was of her. He had not even exchanged words with her instead telling Cordelia that he looked forward to her entrance into formal politics.

Parkinson was put on probation and the rest of people who had hurled curses had received warnings.

Tom's name was kept outside of it, citing security reasons from Grindelwald and even their courtship was glossed over.

Cordelia's parents were worried and Cordelia had used the floo to talk to them and assure them of her health and had let them know that the accusations were aimed at her and Tom. Tom, Abraxas and Dorea had also spoken to them briefly and assured them that they were being very vigilant and if they felt even slightly insecure, they would not hesitate in reaching out.

While Cordelia had not explicitly said that Tom and she were together, her parents had not been surprised that people were jealous of whatever relations/friendship the two had.

Tom had gotten yet another missive from her parents next day when they thanked him for standing up for her. While they trusted their daughter's capabilities and verbal prowess immensely, they were glad that he had been there to support her unequivocally.

In fact, in his fury and protective streak even Lord Black had not even questioned Cordelia once. He had trusted her word without questions.

 _"He is not bad. He just likes his control …" Cordelia had said as an explanation._

And as confusing that statement was, Tom had understood. Lord Black may be obsolete, a little too paranoid, a little apathetic and a little too prideful but that did not mean that he was a villain all the time.

It did not mean that Cordelia would not need to butt her head with him. It did not mean that their disagreements would end. But it did mean that Cordelia understood people in more nuanced ways than all or none.

Of course, there were still things that were absolutely unacceptable to her.

Amongst all the chaos, the fact that both of them were together was barely touched. They still held each other, hugged each other, and had been inseparable. But no one had once commented about it or about the fact that Tom had said that they loved each other out loud and that Cordelia had not protested.

Even when everyone was brainstorming on how to respond, the issue was taken for granted. There was no questioning about how or why or when.

It made Tom realize that despite their personal reservations, most often the people around you wanted the best for you. It might get tempered with their personal prejudices or likes but people did not have selfish dispositions by default.

It was sort of enlightening and heartening to realize that. When people defended Cordelia, a lot of them had been defending him too. Winston Travers did not seem happy about the fact that both of them were together, yet he had not hesitated to offer a letter of support, had not hesitated as everyone filled the Professors in. He had also supported Abraxas' initiative about leaving Tom's title out of it, like many others. He wanted the justice, but not when it came at the cost of Tom.

Cordelia had always put him first in many respects but the small gestures from his housemates, from his friends spoke volumes.

Tom was very glad that he had Cordelia. If it were not for her, he would probably be stranger to these humanly sentiments of gratitude and camaraderie.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

Tom and Cordelia were softly conversing after a long, arduous week. It was Friday evening. Lyra Greengrass had left the school a few hours ago at lunch.

Tom could feel it in his bones that it was not going to get easier. Two members of that gang were out of Hogwarts, one because he attacked Tom, the other because she attacked Cordelia. On one hand, it was a sort of lesson to them that he and Lia were not lowering their guard at any cost and they would use every avenue to get back at the attackers.

On the other, both of them might have just prompted them to up their game and wait in grass like patient snakes. Cordelia had been right. They were all injured, vicious snakes. Perhaps, it was time to get Jormy back.

But Tom hated this feeling, the feeling of being hunted, which is what Cordelia seemed to have caught on.

"We need to decide if we are going to get offensive. We have been playing the safe game for too long. They think we are complacent, that we will not react outside bounds, and that our moral quotient might work against us. All we have been doing is defend. Even our offense on Carrow and Lestrange was clandestine. They need a direct, clear warning to back off. Or we take a more brutal approach; we destroy them without warning them any further," Cordelia whispered seriously.

"Total destruction is too dangerous. If we take away everything, they will not have anything to lose further and that might embolden them. No, it needs to be significantly destructive warning, where they still think they are in the game and we lay layered traps over time such that they play our tunes or lose everything. The hope of getting the upper hand needs to linger longer in their hearts," Tom murmured back, considering her stance.

"We will need to be very smart, discreet and subtle. They need to know it was us, but there should be nothing that pinpoints to us." Cordelia added, "Moreover, our defenses need to be impeccable. They should not be able to attack us or catch us off-guard. I am commissioning several layered protective enchantments. I have the locket. We need something for you. I think that the combined magic of veela, Goblins and my magic used through parseltongue should do the trick. I will write to Matriarch Radomira,"

"Lia, such favors will come at a cost. We can pay off the goblins but the Veela matriarch…" Tom cautioned.

"I think she knows my nature as a magicae. Any favor she asks will not go against my sanctity as the magicae. Of course, we will be allowed to negotiate. Veelas are not the only magical creatures. There are others who can offer aid. I just want to perform the veela charm because it uses companionate love as a fuel. Love is very strong protection, the strongest a magicae can offer." Cordelia regarded him, her eyes almost pleading. She wanted him to understand.

Tom got it. The next moment he had taken both of her palms in his hands and was addressing her, "Look, I get it. Of all the people, I get it. I would move cosmos to keep you safe. I have been paranoid and controlling and over-protective and you have taken all of that graciously. I get that you need to know that I am safe. I just want you to promise me that you will not compromise your security in your quest to protect me. Not yet, you do not have access to your full powers. I do not want you to jeopardize…" Tom shook his head.

Cordelia nodded seriously, "Together…"

"Together," Tom intoned and Cordelia rested her head on the crook of his shoulder and squeezed their palms together.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

It was not like she was not used to titles that besmirched her character or insulted her dignity or proclaimed her vulgar. Skeeter and people had done it enough when she was Juniper. Her schoolmates in France had done it enough.

On one hand, it had given her a strong resilience. On the other, her patience had thinned. Like Tom had said the day he had given her the warding stones, even when she accommodated complains of people, they inevitably found something else to complain about.

It was a never ending cycle. While constructive critiques promoted growth, this mindless and dense drivel, bashing, arguments were just for the sake of opposition.

And frankly, Cordelia had gone through enough of that to last for a lifetime.

It was calming and a soothing balm to realize that Tom got this; that his arms were tight around her not because he thought she was weak, but because he realized that even her strength and resilience needed support and empathy.

Too often, people forgot that needing/wanting support was not weakness. She was striving hard to remember it, so was Tom, and it was a good place to be.

A clearing of throat made both of them look towards the door of the Sculpting room. Both of them were sitting there waiting for the rest of the Bonanza group to arrive.

It was Abraxas and Orion.

"Are we interrupting?" Abraxas asked with genuine concern.

Cordelia shook her head genially, a bit perturbed by his caution.

"The rest of the people are here, if you would not mind joining us…" Abraxas trailed off, his tone remaining the same.

"Have people been waiting?" Cordelia quickly got up.

Abraxas and Orion froze momentarily answering their query; people had indeed been waiting.

"Why did you not call us earlier?" Tom asked, as bewildered as she was.

'Err…Dory gets really annoyed when we even accidentally interrupt her and Charlie…" Orion said sheepishly, looking quite similar to Alphard's signature look.

Tom and she let out a chuckle and exchanged looks

"We will talk about it with all of you… Let us do the meeting first?" Cordelia smiled good-naturedly.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

"First of all, apologies for the short noticed request for a preponing and thank you all for considering it and turning up. We had a rough week and we would like to rest during the weekend. But we also did not want to postpone this meeting because we need to do a lot." Cordelia addressed everyone.

There was a murmur of yes and affirmations.

"I thought we should have an interhouse core group who decide everything, ideally four people. I personally would nominate Lucretia from Slytherin, who knows the myths best and can pinpoint instances that are crucial for us to enact. I would nominate Babbling, because she can think of appropriate choreography and arrangements. I would also nominate Evelyn because she is very good at classical music and of course, Bolton has to be there as he is taking up direction. Of course, we will have other department heads that take care of particular branches of magic and most would be from the advanced years, but I feel the overall theme and sense of the production should be handled by people who have a strong eye for aesthetic and theatre. Magic can fall into place post that. So, I would like if we could pay attention to their analysis and decide our final stories?" Cordelia added and gave everyone a questioning look.

There was a sort of surprise from other people; two muggleborns, one half-blood and one noble pureblood as core members. She had discussed this with him at length and Tom had played the devil's advocate for a bit even though he saw no hitches.

The next moment, there was an excited chatter as everyone concurred with her choices and logic.

The meeting lasted for a bit as they finalized the stories and then divided themselves up in different smaller, magical departments.

The next meeting was scheduled for Friday where each sub group would give updates and discuss. Of course, the sub groups were going to arrange meetings at their discretion amongst themselves.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

That night Cordelia crafted the missive to Matriarch Radomira. The central nest was somewhere in Bulgaria so it would take a while to reach it. Most full Veela were taking shelters in the hidden central nest in light of the carnage Grindelwald was leaving behind.

Ultimately, they had decided to send Quetzalcoatl with a tiny crystal that had Cordelia's magic as a protective charm and as a way to identify the veracity of the sender. The Veela Matriarch had treated and handled Cordelia as a mere infant numerous times and was familiar with the signature.

Cordelia might need Zephyr as the Heiress Black.

Of course, the missive did not mention her as a magicae or anything to insinuate who Tom was. Cordelia had merely written the missive considering Veela an ally and had hinted on an exchange of resources. Cordelia had talked about the charm through metaphors and had coded the words.

It would take a while for Quetzalcoatl to reach and come back. And Cordelia knew that the reply would not come through Quetzalcoatl. They had a long wait until the Veela responded.

Cordelia, however, had other plans in motion. The Goblin protection should arrive within a stipulated time of a week.

So, she was a little relieved and relatively less hassled and tense when she went to bed. After a long week, she had a dream free sleep for a bit.

But then, it did not last.

Cordelia woke up in the night because she felt Tom's unrest. He was sweaty and jittery and as soon as Cordelia separated herself from him to see what happened, he opened his eyes.

"I am feeling weird, might have an infection. You should move away…" He said weakly.

Cordelia merely touched his forehead and where her hand was, a thrum of magic stopped for a bit before spreading across Tom's body again.

In the next moment, Cordelia had called an elf, which popped them outside the room of requirement.

Tom was dizzy and dazed and did not react until they were inside on a soft, plushy bed.

"What, what is wrong?" He asked gently.

The creases on Cordelia's forehead vanished as she regarded him with a sheepish smile, "Nothing is wrong. You are feeling ill because your body is saturated with magic. You will go into your majority in a bit as your channels expand…

"You have a powerful core. The majority could be noisy and destructive. All of it is repairable, of course. But a majority this early is a little unheard of. It would catch attention, the kind we do not want." Cordelia filled him in, soothing his forehead with a gentle caress.

"Is it painful?" Tom asked gently. He did not know anything about majorities but the basics which told him that he would have it on his 17th Birthday, which was also not a compulsion apparently. `

"No, it is not painful. It is not even uncomfortable. Though, it can be very overwhelming. For the next few hours, you and magic will be closer than you will ever be. You will sense it everywhere and the sensation can be a bit perturbing. The room is good that way because it is a diverse set of magic spread across. You will not be forced to focus on one thing." Cordelia assured him.

"How does it happen?" Tom asked.

"So, your body has been collecting magic beyond your threshold for quite some time. Now, that magic is not containable within your current channels, so it is going to create more channels to accommodate itself. You will feel a little weak and a little high during the process because magic sorta takes over everything and it is an out of body experience. But it is completely safe and you will wake up more energized and lighter than you remember yourself once it is settled…your spells might be overpowered for a bit though," Cordelia was forcing herself to be clinical in her tone and words.

The truth was that she was worried. Very worried.

Whatever she was saying was the truth; magical majorities were nothing to be worried about. Most people underwent theirs in sleep without even noticing.

Unfortunately, Tom was not most people. His magical power alone was a very volatile bit. On top of it, he was recognized as her alpha mate by her magic. Sure, the bond will not settle until both of them had majorities, but the fact was that the bond existed.

Cordelia had humongous magical channels even without her majority. She was the perfect conductor of magic. And all those channels were linked to Tom's channels.

This could go wrong or take an unpredictable tangent anytime and she did not know what to do.

The best she could do was being near Tom and watch.

Magic would not be so cruel that it would hurt the love of its child, simply because the child met and recognized the love before she became a fully-fledged magicae, would she?

Cordelia just swallowed, then prayed and rubbed Tom's palms in circles as he drifted in a sleep or the majority fog.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

Cordelia's descriptor was correct. The next few hours were an out of body experience. He could not quite correctly describe it.

It was as if someone had magnified his abilities as Osculastas est Magic exponentially. Such vivid trails, shapes, figures, scattered points of magic everywhere. That is all he sensed; he heard different kinds of magic, felt different pressures all over, saw something that he could not categorize.

He lost all sense of the material world. He was as good as floating in a limbo, nowhere.

For the first time, he probably smelled magic and it was unlike and incomparable to anything else. He had not smelled anything that was better or homely, except that one thing.

In the midst of all the magic, there was this…there was this concentration of magic. It hovered near him and everything about it made him want to remain near it.

Surprisingly, it never moved away from him, just staying there. Out of every sensory kaleidoscope the rest of space went through, that speck (actually it was larger than a speck) remained constant.

He kept staring at it, if you could call it that. Maybe focusing was the better world. In the endless world, it was the North Star.

He lost sense of time, space.

His first conscious sense was smelling something familiar and he murmured out loud, "Lia," and he felt a hand go through his wet, sweaty hair in a gentle caress and warm, soft hands cradle his face.

He opened his eyes and the vivid bright, relieved yet concerned emerald orbs of his love greeted him. Cordelia was sitting right where his North Star had been. Before he knew, he was extending his hands and cupping her cheeks and he received a smile in response to that as she took his palms in her gentle hands.

Her soft lips touched his sweaty forehead and her breathy whisper, "You must be tired love, sleep," was the last thing he sensed before falling asleep.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

When Tom woke up, he was cuddled up into Cordelia. His arms were around her waist, his head was right under her chin and his torso was wrapped in her petite body.

Her long black hair were spread wildly on the pillow and she slept uninhibitedly, without a care in the world. Her breathing was even and her fingers were gently locked into his locks and his neck. Slight sudden movements from Tom made them ticklish, such was her gossamer touch.

Tom raised himself up a bit and her fingers tickled the back of his neck and an involuntary shudder and laughter went through his torso. Cordelia's breathing stopped for a second and then evened again.

Tom saw his wand and her wand on the sidetable and then he glanced around at the location the room of requirement had come up with.

This bed was a sort of replica of the one in the master bedroom that was in Cordelia' trunk apartment. The rest of it was empty. All of it was bare, but for a slight, really dim lamp near one sidetable.

Tom was tempted to pick up his wand and cast a tempus. But he was afraid that Cordelia would have something to say about it.

She had warned him about power escalations and how the body needed to stabilize before…yeah, he was not taking a chance, not just because it might be dangerous to her as she was so near in proximity but because he did not like to anger her all the same.

Cordelia could be very stringent about his health.

Just then, he glanced at Cordelia who still had closed her eyes. Her hand was moving precisely in a summoning pattern and before Tom knew, a pitcher of water was pouring a glass of water while both were hovering in front of him.

"Give me 5 minutes…" She mumbled, snuggling back in the blanket.

Tom raised himself into a sitting position and drank up the water. His throat was parched and he was very thirsty. Cordelia definitely knew her healing even when barely awake.

Few minutes later, Cordelia was fully awake. She had proceeded to throw various types of diagnostic charms and after she was satisfied, she had allowed him to pick up his wand and do as much magic as he wanted.

But before he could, he was wrapped in her arms and she was excitedly congratulating him.

Lia had certain seemingly contradictory traits.

After Tom was done testing, they merely had to travel back in time for a few hours so that no one got worried or alerted.

* * *

 **Evelyn's POV**

The inner circle had taken the attack on Cordelia as a very big slight. They had met without Tom and Cordelia over the weekend at Dorea, Abraxas, Titania and Ogden's behest.

While the first reaction had been disbelief and speechlessness about what went down, it had later morphed into a solid irritation and determination.

Cordelia had been called several unsavory names. Sure, there were woman who were vulgar or characterless or a hundred different bad slurs about women, but Cordelia was not one. She could not be.

And all of that just because of Slughorn and his stupid charm.

Alphard had been going on about getting even with the Potions Masters but Dorea and Ogden had deftly reminded everyone that none of them had protested and had , in fact, participated in the voyeurism.

"It is hypocritical of us to now blame just him. We are as much a cause…" Titania had nodded in agreement.

"What do we do now? Do we tell them?" Abraxas asked hesitantly and nervously. 'Them' referred to Tom and Cordelia.

"Sure, if you want Lord Slytherin to chop all of us, and you want Heiress Black to curse all of us into oblivion. In that case, it is a very sound plan. Heiress Black has a very high threshold when it comes to testing her patience and control. All of us crossed that line by a lot. And of course, Lord Slytherin is very protective of her. If he gets a hint that she suffered the remarks because we indulged and allowed others to indulge…" Burke shook his head.

"It is good thing that Jormy is away. I wonder what…." Alphard muttered.

Every non-Slytherin was confused, even Eve herself. Jormy was Tom's familiar and 'she' was apparently scary but Eve had no context to make sense of Alphard's comments.

"We cannot let it go…I know disciplinary actions have been taken and whatever, but that is the official end of things. We need to make it clear that attacks on them will not be tolerated. Both of them stand up for other people. They deserve the same courtesy." Charlie said.

All the women exchanged looks and then Walburga spoke, "We have already sort of rolled out something. Most of us who are from noble houses have written to our mothers or grandmothers or aunts. Greengrass is going to be a pariah in the women's circle completely."

"It can have a rebound…What if they think that Cordelia deserved it?" It was Bones who pointed that out.

"They will not. Cordelia has an image, a reputation and a certain sway. I have hardly met an adult who disapproves of her. Even when she questions or debates or challenges Noble Lords, she does it with such a grace and decorum that nobody minds. Lords do not allow or even barely tolerate older, graduated heirs interrupting their inputs or participating in their discussions. They allow her that leeway. They even invite her inputs. They will not believe that Cordelia Faye Black is capable of being vulgar or…It is just not possible." It was Rowle who said that.

"The only lords who disapprove are Yaxley, Carrow, Lestrange, Parkinson and Selwyn. Everyone knows that Yaxley envies Altair Black so if he says anything; it will come out as petty. The others are from an antagonist group anyway and everyone knows that. Lestrange has been in tiff with House Black for the longest and they have always lost. House of Carrow and Parkinson are not in a position to lambast Cordelia, not when their heirs are notorious for lack of control and decorum. Lord Selwyn has the seat only through marriage. He will not use up his limited standing to get into a cold war with an adolescent heiress," It was Ogden who produced the analysis.

"The situation with women is slightly complex. There are people who are envious of her. Word about her independence is not afloat yet. Cordelia has a very docile and demure image in masses. The envy could harm us. Fortunately for us, people dislike Lyra Greengrass more…" Titania said.

"Do not get me started on her image. Everyone is tired of her high strung, pretentious and superior attitude." Gambol groaned.

"On top of it, she is a dimwit of the highest order. Everyone knows that," Prince rolled her eyes.

"She is just too condescendingly proud of her blonde locks and beauty and to be honest, everyone secretly thinks that Cordelia has much more to be proud about on the beauty end and any other end and yet she is as humble, kind and generous as ever…" Gore shrugged.

"Which is why, we thought it would be prudent to initiate conversations and spread the word, so to speak. Between Greengrass and Cordelia, people will unconditionally choose Corrie especially when Lord Greengrass sided with Cordelia," Dorea explained.

"That will take care of the nobles, what of others?" It was Sebastian who asked that.

"Cordelia has always been above the blood politics. She never discriminates. Other people know of her and know her. She has made considerable effort to reach out to people other than the nobles. She meets and greets, and she remembers them and respects them. For that reason alone, she is going to be rooted for in the purebloods…" Applebee said.

King nodded, "Cordelia has always been approachable, quite unlike the Greengrass daughter."

"We do not have a halblood in our circle but Lord Slytherin. I hardly think that they would complain about her. Cordelia has always been gracious and well, she is being courted by a halfblood." Rowle shrugged.

"That is a very big statement about her open-mindedness,"Shafiq nodded.

"Well, the muggleborns like her…"Jade Marks offered, looking at Evelyn to ask if she thought or knew differently.

"They do; a lot." Evelyn nodded.

"Like is an understatement…word about Bolton taking lead in Bonanza has spread like wildfire and everyone knows that Cordelia was behind it. Of course, Evelyn and Cordelia's friendship has been of interest to the grapevine for a long time. Moreover, Cordelia and Lord Riddle have demonstrated their maturity and regards for everyone quite aptly, especially with the inclusive courts and the way they handled communications and backlash," Anastius Zabini put in his two knuts.

"I completely forgot what they did with the court!" Longbottom mused.

"Not entirely surprising considering your brain size! We fifth years have always known…" Walburga mocked.

Prince, Applebee, Marks burst into laughter. Charlie, Dorea, Orion and Gambol split into smiles. Everyone allowed themselves a moment of mirth as Longbottom rolled his eyes sportingly.

"This takes care of the grapevine and will likely lead to exclusion of the problematic elements, but it is still not a clear message from us. I think that is what Heir Potter was indicating towards…" Pritchard pointed out.

"We could always prank them into the seventh hell," Anastius proposed quite seriously.

"Yeah, and every prefect turns a blind eye. I would love to do that. We could convince people to do that!" Prince said.

"We cannot use our positions so…selectively!" Bones pointed out, "It will not be fair."

"Well, the need to be fair is a Hufflepuff need, Heir Bones. Slytherins believe in getting even," Burke shrugged.

"Besides, there is no Professor who would protest. Except Dumbledore maybe and his reputation is in shambles anyway?" Ogden said.

"You are the Head boy!" Applebee looked at him like he had grown an extra head.

"Tiberius has always been a closeted prankster." Gambol shook her head knowingly.

"Also, fairness does not mean adhering to official decrees. I personally felt that the aggressors got very light punishments. Greengrass had planned on using cursed fire to burn Cordelia's face. That is—"Shafiq said darkly.

"I did not know that." Abraxas looked furious now.

"We found out a few hours ago which is why we asked you to call a meeting. Uncle wrote to me. Lyra was adamant that she did not do anything and that the goblins and Cordelia had schemed to destroy her and what not! She insisted on charging Cordelia with using Love potions and assault." Ogden sighed as he massaged his temples.

"Likely her mother's tutoring. Prunella Greengrass nee Crabbe is known for her histrionics and hysterical tendencies." Titania sighed too.

"Yes, but in their limited capacities, they did not factor in that there are ways to verify things. Lord Greengrass is the legal guardian and he permitted the aurors to use Veritaserum considering the only basis for any charge on Cordelia is Lyra's testimony, especially in light of so many testimonies supporting Cordelia. He was even amenable to using a mind art. Lyra protested when she realized but it was already too late. She wanted to shave Cordelia's head, burn her hair and face and several other things. It is confidential because Cordelia's parents are worried about the affect it would have on her. Lord Greengrass is horrified and he has sent his wife and daughter packing into a decrepit family estate. There is no criminal case only because Cordelia and Lord Slytherin's forethought on protection prevented…" Ogden shook his head, his hand still at his temple.

"My grandfather wrote to me. Pillwickle and he go a long way back. While he respects the wishes of adults to spare Cordelia the details and even more, was impressed by her personal forethought and patience, he wants us to be cautious and aware. Lord Greengrass is very apologetic and has likely made several amends but the other houses, especially Parkinson and Carrow are not above making desperate moves." Shafiq informed.

"And we need to prevent things and not wait for a chance for revenge. What good is our revenge if Cordelia or Tom gets permanently hurt?" Charlie squeezed Dorea's hands.

"Cordelia has been worse for wear thrice now. Tom has been attacked too. It is a pattern. People are out to get them." Gore said, "The match, the fall, the letter and now Greengrass."

"We suspect the first two to be Lestrange." It was Abraxas who confided.

"Lestrange dislikes me but I do not think that he would attack me so strongly…" Charlie looked perplexed.

"It was not an attack on your person, Charlie. That morning Cordelia destroyed Renatus over an argument about your Quidditch skills. He called her a wench and Tom got angry and stepped in and Renatus was bashed a bit by their collective wit. Lestrange was likely angry and while Tom and Cordelia were sort of untouchable because they were between us, you were not. I did not think of it then. None of us did until Anastius and Alphard started maintaining a victory sheet of all the times Cordelia dissed the lot of them after the whole Greengrass thing. They went into that morning's reminiscence session and it took Abraxas, Walburga and me merely moments to realize the connection. Lestrange attacked you to get back at Cordelia." Dorea said, her fingers nervously moving in circles around each other.

"Then Cordelia beat him quite viciously in the dueling class of Merrythought. He had made ruckus about her not being able to get better grades because she was a woman. Two days later, she was hit with that stunning spell. Lestrange upped his game…" Abraxas said darkly.

"That makes a lot of sense but both Heir Potter and Heiress Black could have died," Rowle said hesitantly.

"Maybe it did not cross their minds?" Longbottom shrugged, "They are a bit dim,"

"That lot has never made secrecy about their cruelty or homicidal tendencies. I doubt that it did not occur to him that it could have been a fatal injury. He probably just did not care or rather was glad that their deeds could cause so much damage." Gambol shook her head thoughtfully and in revulsion.

"And they have been covering their tracks and have not got caught. Let us not underestimate them." Pritchard said warningly.

"I also think that Carrow staged the potions accident that Cordelia managed to prevent; which means that he likely sent the letter too. That lot knew this; which is why they thought that whatever happened to Carrow was retaliation from us or both of them." Abraxas put forward.

It was as if someone had illuminated something and everyone had a stark moment of realization.

"This is serious. They have been trying to actively kill or severely harm them. They are not even concerned about other fatalities. Erumpent fluid in Alihotsy draught would have harmed everyone in vicinity; all the Slytherin and Ravenclaw fourth years. And these are just the successful attempts that came to our notice; I wonder what else they were —" Rowle was shocked.

All of them were catching on. Lestrange had been playing hide and seek for very long and it was nice to see that it was not just Tom, Cordelia and she who saw through it.

"We need to tell Uncle…"Ogden whispered.

"Absolutely Not!" Cordelia's clear, strong, vehement voice rung across the room.

Evelyn glanced around the room in between the silence as everyone imitated her stance. The thing was that Cordelia was nowhere in the room.

"Oh, come on…" Cordelia's annoyed voice filled the room. Evelyn could distinctly picture her rolling her eyes.

And right in front of them in the center of the room, within the circle they were standing/sitting in, Cordelia's head appeared as a really strong disillusionment charm began fading from her body.

"But…" Abraxas was opening and closing his mouth.

"That is a NEWT level spell…"Sebastian was outraged.

The seniors were just looking at Cordelia as if they could not believe…

"How did you get in? We warded it!" Burke cried out, almost stomping his feet.

"You really think that just basic wards would keep me out…" She said theatrically.

"But they did not fall or break…" It was Ogden who protested.

"It is possible to bend wards, Tiberius." Cordelia genially informed.

Of course!

"Impossible, it takes a different level of mastery to be able to do that…I cannot do that…" Bones shook his head.

"In case you forgot, Heir Bones, my father happens to be a ward master. This was one of the most basic wards I have ever seen. And just because a magic is beyond your reach, does not mean that no one else holds the capability to do it," Cordelia said calmly with a raised brow.

Heir Bones looked sheepish and apologetic immediately.

"How much did you hear?" Abraxas asked with hesitation.

Cordelia looked amused and she rolled her eyes, "Enough."

"You need not be so clandestine…"Dorea reproached.

"I did not," Cordelia agreed, "But as Pritchard and Rowle rightly said…the people you were referring to will go any lengths. The walls have ears. Do not have such sensitive conversations without proper measures!" Cordelia asserted with a warning.

A moment later, she waved her wand intricately in a round movement and a shimmering ward took over the room.

"What do you think?" Charlie asked.

"About what?" Cordelia asked.

"Our theories, what should we do?" Sebastian cried out.

"Anything you claim to be your theory is not news to me." Cordelia said calmly.

There was ruckus as the room collectively began speaking, reproaching, and a bang of Cordelia's wand silenced everyone.

"Shut. Up. Or I will stuff Anastius and Alphard's stinky socks in all of your mouths…" Cordelia said threateningly.

The Slytherin men and the Black sisters immediately pinched their noses. Most of the others were staring at Cordelia in a sort of daze.

Once the silence was maintained and everyone just looked compliant, Cordelia spoke again with a solid glare, "Now speak, one by one, without reacting like buffoons or letting go of your rational capacities."

"You have known that they are out to hunt you?" Abraxas' eyes were blazing but he said this with a deathly calm.

"And you are still traveling alone?" Sebastian cried out, opening his arms in disbelief.

"Yes, Tom and I have known. No, I am not traveling alone because Tom dropped me here." Cordelia replied very calmly.

"He left alone?" Charlie's brows scrunched.

"Yes, he needed to pick up Jormy so he used a secret passageway that only the two of us know about. He will be perfectly safe," Cordelia continued her calm responses.

"You did not tell us…"Abraxas' tone was accusatory.

"Why would I have told you?" Cordelia calmly questioned back.

"We could have….we could have…" Abraxas lashed angrily and let out a string of cuss words aside.

"Reacted without thinking and lashing out before assessing the situation…which is what all of you were doing currently." Cordelia fixed all of them with a look.

"We were discussing," Walburga glared.

"Yes, without taking proper precautions and inviting the wrath of the gang upon you, so without thinking or assessing," Cordelia said easily, conjured a love seat on one side and dropped on it leisurely.

She raised her one brow throwing a challenge on everybody.

"This is quite unusual Cordelia. You invited all of us to be your confidantes but if you keep pertinent information like this…" Ogden was shaking his head.

"How is it pertinent?" Cordelia asked.

"They are out to kill you…" Dorea's eyes blazed.

"And how is that relevant to running of the court or the ruling council? Those are personal vendettas and not at all related to the politics of the school," Cordelia promptly asked and explained.

"But they are….Heiress Black, it affects your position as…" Heir Bones began but could not complete his thought.

"Personal is political, Cordelia. You say that…" Shafiq said quietly after a momentarily silence.

"And Lestrange and Carrow are attacking you because you have been taking positions of powers within the politics of school, a position you do not deserve according to them because you are a woman," Titania added, her eyes reproaching.

Cordelia took a deep breath, "I have known that Carrow attacked Charlie as the same time when I began arguing with Dumbledore that night. I intended to keep the information to myself but Tom has ways of making me cough up things."

But before Abraxas or Dorea could say anything, Cordelia's gesture from her palm indicating stop, halted them, and so Cordelia continued, "All of you are novices and amateurs in Wizangomot politics and even more so in personal lives. I knew that it was him but I had no proof apart from circumstantial evidence. I have been building a legal case with the help of Tom since then but we do not have anything substantial that can be corroborated except Lyra Greengrass. And that is also my word against hers, my mind against hers.

"While I can submit myself to a mind art inquiry, I would like to remind you that I have as an Heiress other duties that will become compromised with such an inquiry. Moreover, everyone knows how trained Blacks are in the mind arts. People will not believe me. Moreover, Greengrass was just plainly jealous and reacted. She is too unpredictable a player to be manipulated by the others. They might have encouraged her affections towards Tom but that is not a crime.

"In your outrage and righteousness and your desire to stand by us or protect us, all of you would have made mistakes, left trails, things that I would rather not worry about. There are bigger games at play here and all of you are ignoring them in your worry and anger. The Locket in my neck is not a mere jewelry or a token of Tom's love. It is his worry coupled with his need to protect me. Both of us took steps. We did not go in blind. And yes, we have let our guard down and got caught in traps, but those were one out of 100.

"I did manage to create a shield to contain the Erumpent Fluid. And it is class A non-tradable ingredient. If we created an inquiry about it, we were not going up against Carrow. We were going up against his black market suppliers, kingpins and a whole chain of people that we do not have the capability to go against right now. Tom and I have been living very carefully and I did not want to extend that to all of you. When you live in such a worry, it is… And I did not for once believe that informing you could do any good. Look at you, all of you. You have been skipping meals, avoiding sleep, working too much while ignoring school work. And you are worried, so, so worried.

"This is what happened the last time there was an attack on me. All of you lost it and you are losing it again. As mighty and as accomplished or mature you think all of you are, you are still a bunch of kids. We are still a bunch of kids. And the feeling of being preyed on, of being hunted, of being in danger and the paranoia and the maladaptive caution that comes with it is not something that I wished to impose on you. Tom knows simply because he functions better when he knows everything and I know that. I am the Heiress and I am the ruling council as well and it is within my discretion to protect you, especially in regards to something that does not directly affect you."

"You think you being hurt will not affect us…"Abraxas was aghast.

"Don't twist my words, Abe. You know what I meant; I was not willing to pull all of you into danger simply because I was in danger. In fact, Tom and I went to great lengths to protect each other. But we do not have the resources to protect everyone currently. I would have gladly confided everything to all of you if I was convinced that I was capable of extending the protection to all of you. We knew they are targeting me or Tom. We can focus our energies and brains there. Can you imagine what intricate webs will develop if each one of you was dragged into this?

"There might be strength in numbers but too many people also spoil things, reveal secrets, and give away advantages. On top of it, it is a scheduling nightmare to protect over a dozen people who might be attacked from everywhere. Or are you telling me that you would have refrained from reacting, would have only advised or suggested things had we confided in you, instead of taking the fight in open, in halls, in corridors? Even the most cautious, wise and prudent of our lot is not yet so refined as to play this delicate game, and even though I consider Tom and I ace players, I refuse to use or position or direct any of you to be our pawns or puppets." Cordelia's eyes turned reproaching.

It was true, all of it. Cordelia was right in her assessment. The current meeting was foolhardy, Eve had known that but she rarely voiced things.

"But how can you expect us to take this silently? They are attacking you, they want to kill you," It was Charlie who cried out.

"I don't expect you to take this silently. That would be cruel, which is why I never told you. You would not know or realize it, ergo you would not feel a compelling need to respond or react to it…" Cordelia said calmly.

"But we know now…" Abraxas cried out.

"And I never said that I am not willing to take your inputs, or your concerns or your worries…now." Cordelia sighed," I was merely explaining my silence and need for secrecy before all of you joined the dots together."

"Does Lord Black know?" It was Sebastian who asked.

"No, and he will not know." Cordelia said with finality, "All of you need to realize that while all of us joined the dots easily, all of this is speculative and our theories are mere conjectures. The information available to us was also available to the aurors and they were not able to create a case. We do not have proof, evidence or testimony. All of it is hearsay, circumstantial evidence and we are up against nobility. The first thing that you should learn as sons and daughters of noble houses or any other person is that it is utterly foolish to pursue a case that is less than iron clad or open and shut against a noble born.

"Even open and shut cases have been buried under blood, documents and bribes. We are dealing with houses that merely have one son, one chance at continuation of the line and we have grievances with those sons. I need not elaborate how desperate those houses are going to get. I need not tell you the blood that will spill. I would rather not have to bury anything or, Morgana forbid, anyone so WE will not be telling any Head of the houses or aurors," Her last statement if possible was even more forceful.

The faces of Ogden, Bones, Applebee, Longbottom, Potter and even Gore were ashen. Shafiq, Rowle, Burke, Titania, Zabini, Pritchard, King and Walburga had thin pressed lines in place of their lips. They agreed with Cordelia's stark assessment.

Dorea, Abraxas, Alphard were struggling, perhaps facing a dissonance in standing by their sister or reconciling with the bloody history of nobility.

Lucretia and Orion were compliant. Evelyn herself probably looked shaken but she also accepted what Cordelia said.

"All of you are playing a game you do not know how to play. You are playing it with skewed eyes and with a skewed perception. The world is not divided into all or none, black or white and evil or good. Most of the populace falls under the bell curve. Regardless of your stance, your morality, your idealogy they are going to be apathetic, be it noble purebloods, purebloods, half bloods or muggleborns. They are not going to take sides. People like to watch or be on sidelines more than they enjoy being in the thick of it. Where were your righteous sides when muggleborns were discriminated against? Where were they when I was not here? Where were they when the whole of Slytherin was demonized and discriminated against?

"You are willing to speak to take stand now because you are the primary stakeholders, because someone singled you out as their people and you want to maintain the collective identity. You have automatically assigned yourself the position of being better than those whom you stand against, more moral, on the 'good' side. Not necessarily wrong, but taking absolute moral positions will have its pitfalls and you all fell into one ceremoniously.

"Most muggleborns are too afraid to take a stand for themselves; it is high and mighty of you to expect them to stand up for someone in between a noble cold war. Half bloods are the oddballs who do not belong, neither wizard nor muggle. They cling to any safe space and it is not always going to be us. For instance, Minerva does not believe in us, nor do many others. Now, Tom might be a halfblood but he is charismatic, he is powerful and even he would not have engaged in a legal noble battle without his nobility. Survival is an important instinct and you can shove your relative morality through drain. And purebloods, the poor pawns in nobles' games will be...it is not going to be pretty. And for what? Something as petty as adolescent egos." Cordelia gave them a withering look of disbelief.

There was an utter silence as Cordelia glared down at everyone.

"We cannot stay quiet. They are trying to kill you…"Abraxas tried weakly. He looked drained.

"I never said we were." Cordelia sighed, "But you need to get over yourself, realize that you are not the best or the most moral people, get off that high horse. This is a political game of who comes out on top and if we misstep, we will be creating reverberations that would transcend decades. Nobility does not forget easily. I am not saying that we have to let them go scot free, I am not even saying that we have to abide by the law or not exploit the gray areas and whatever. But I need you all to be mature, to think in a more nuanced manner. We know that they are trying to kill bit others do not. They do not have the same context and aurors have failed to establish any… They know about my spat with Renatus before the match where Charlie got hurt. They had probable cause to interrogate but they have not. Can you think why? Pillwickle and Bob Ogden cannot be bought. They will not stand by as things happen, so what could it possibly mean?

"Auror department has pressures. It is spread thin with Grindelwald. Raising hell in nobility is only going to prove detrimental to everything, especially the funding of Auror department. Moreover, administering truth potion or leglimency to check Renatus is out of the window. Lord Greengrass was generous, Lord Lestrange….he will burn anyone who comes near his heir. And as much as it pains me to say, I am a woman and our gender is presumably prone to hysterical tendencies in the eyes of everyone. I have grounds to be dismissed right away. And every time I leave the demure image and fight back, I am a worrisome meddler. We are up against the normative course of things. It is not as easy as you think. And I am not putting Tom in line of the fire of Lords and ladies. I refuse to play a game which might harm him. Harm all of you! We are young, our alliance is young, and our ideation is young. We cannot fight back unless we grow, we mature, we prepare. It would be a futile…" Cordelia looked as drained as Abraxas as she shook her head but when she raised her head and met their gazes, the fire in her eyes was still there.

"What do we do?" It was Ogden who asked in a whisper.

"Calm down," Cordelia half directed, half pleaded.

"How can we?" Abraxas asked with a pained expression.

"Look, all of you. I get it. You are feeling hunted. It is not nice. But the past is done, we are safe and we need to look at the future. Carrow and Greengrass are out of picture for this year. I am not sure if they will be back at all. Lord Greengrass is embarrassed by Lyra and Lord Carrow is too afraid for Albert. Moreover, Lyra went out because of attacking me. There was a consequence and she is a joke. Even Albert is a joke and as far-fetched it seems to all of you, that gang does think that I or Tom or both of us had something to do with what happened to him. They might hate us because of what happened to Carrow and their own assumptions about it but they have always hated us. But if they think that we were so smart and so vicious, they will also be afraid of us.

"And who is left? Parkinsons, Lestrange and Julia? Perseus is a craven of the highest order and is shaken to the core right now. Aimee is dumb. Julia is too passive and pressured by her father right now because of Albert. She is too focused on not having the engagement broken than anything else. All who is left is Lestrange. I am not saying that he is not dangerous because he has considerable influence in some purebloods in Slytherin but the danger is really less. And not to mention the high alert that is around after Greengrass. They know that attacking me is not going to end well. People are going to be more protective than ever. Lyra was dumb, Lestrange is not. Their next step as a collective will be fading into background for a bit. They cannot afford more casualties. Which gives us time to prepare and prepare we will…" Cordelia shrugged.

"But they cannot go Scot-free? Lestrange nearly murdered you!" Charlie was furious.

"Do you have proof?" Cordelia asked him gently.

"But…but…"

"It all makes sense in our head. It has to be him. But do we have proof? Anything? Or are we the self-styled justice system where we are going to hurt people on mere suspicion? Moreover, we are fighting against a snake. They hide, they bide their time and they will catch us off-guard. An injured snake… I want us to be patient on this one, I request all of you to be patient. They will make mistakes and we will make sure they pay for everything. But we cannot react, we have to respond. That is what makes us better." Cordelia pointed out.

"I agree with you Cordelia but we cannot be complacent as well…" Ogden said, clearly baffled.

"We cannot win this one by our morals. I am sorry to ask all this out of all of you. I know that you think that we are in the right and that alone makes everything justified, but you need to be realistic. There are no cases against them, they are covering their tracks. What if in our over-zealousness we make mistakes, we get caught? What is our explanation going to be? Lestrange might have tried to kill Cordelia. Do you see how ridiculous that sounds? But not for one moment am I asking us to be complacent, I am just asking us to be smarter about it!" Cordelia rebutted.

"So, you will not mind in the least if we prank them into the seventh hell." Zabini asked carefully, "As long as it does not come back to bite us?"

"Not at all," Cordelia shrugged but then narrowed her eyes at him, "But you better have me on the committee that plans it!"

There was a light laughter that turned bigger as people heaved sighs of relief at Cordelia's pointed mood change.

"No I am serious. No serious physical harm to them, no way to give us detentions or point drops. I am not for humiliating people in pranking but they kind of deserve it. But we need to smart and creative." Cordelia raised her hands in surrender.

"We are on it…" Alphard said, exchanging looks with Zabini and Gambol.

"Pranking does not cover the proportionate consequences." Abraxas astutely pointed out.

"I said so serious harm in pranking, Abraxas. Moreover, it is limited to physical attacks that will leave evidence. There are better ways to hurt people than physical injuries." Cordelia shrugged.

"You want to fight a clandestine political war," Shafiq asked.

"I want a slumber attack. I don't want them to realize the ramifications of engaging with us until it is too late…But I also do not want to devote an awful lot of time to countering them alone. We build our political acumen, our standing, our strength, and our numbers. Every single mark we leave, our every victory is a slap in their face. They will be so fixated with trying to fail our efforts that they will not realize the side game." Cordelia admitted.

"Are you sure Cordelia? I know you are afraid of a political backlash, but your life is worth more than merely avoiding a backlash." Ogden asked.

Charlie began, "Hell no, we should—"

"Not a word, Charlie." Cordelia glared at him.

"While I do not agree entirely with Cordelia, I must say that we should listen to her. Her points have merit. Overzealousness will not get anywhere," Titania wiped the sweat off her brow.

"I do agree that revenge can be achieved without physical hurt. In fact, that is the wisest course of action. She is right. Attacking her would be a dumb move. Lestrange is pompous and uncouth and even unaware but dim he is not. He knows that it is not worth attacking Cordelia right now. In fact, an attack would strengthen the discourse that presents her as a resilient and graceful leader, which they do not want," Shafiq added his bit.

"But we cannot have—" Bones trailed off as the shimmery ward parted to let Tom enter.

"What cannot we have?" He gave Bones a questioning look as he stood unaffected by all the stared.

"You can bend wards too?" King looked dumbfounded.

"Not really. Fortunately, Lia knows how to construct wards and incorporate exceptions." Tom shrugged as he approached Cordelia, who shifted a little on the love seat and allowed Tom to plop gracefully beside her.

"You have to teach me that!" Burke demanded. Charlie nodded eagerly.

"She does not have to do anything," Tom calmly replied before Cordelia could address it.

"Where is Jormy?" Dorea said hastily, probably in an attempt to quell the argument that was sure to happen.

"In our living quarters. She is not exactly innocuous, Dorea. And well, she kind of missed Lux and Nyx," Tom simply replied.

It was not even a minute and both he and Cordelia were gently leaning on each other with their arms and fingers interlaced. It did not seem like a conscious move. They just were so comfortable with each other's presence. Tom whispered something to her and Cordelia immediately recalled something.

"Oh yes, the reason I was actually seeking all of you," Cordelia's expression changed.

Evelyn felt a palpable relief take over the shoulders. Burying bodies and scandals, political trails and games wore her out. She did not want to see Cordelia hurt or Tom but she also did not want to deal with this reality.

She could only imagine what Cordelia's family, her cousins were going through. She got their position, she really did but at the same time, she was impressed by Cordelia's willingness to play the long game and not take immediate vicious revenge. It somehow seemed unlike her.

"Oh, will the two shut up with your guessing games?" Longbottom said in an annoyed tone and it brought back Evelyn to reality. Alphard and Zabini were taking turns to guess what it was and Cordelia was on the brink of her patience. Evelyn did not even want to think what was going through Tom's head. His expressions were extremely severe, even if completely unreadable.

"Keep your shenanigans inside. I have to go and see Nyx and Lux and even Jormy. This past week has taken away a lot of my time." Cordelia said in an annoyed tone.

"Hush you two," Walburga glared at the duo as well.

"Now because I do not have much time, I also do not have the time to elaborate on things or answer your queries. But know this that tomorrow morning, people will be invited to the first meeting of Mars. It is an open meeting but in subsequent meetings, only Knights and people who sign up tomorrow and can make a commitment will be allowed entry. The meeting will happen on Friday afternoon and will last 90 minutes. Tom and I will be leading. Come for it if you intend to participate in Mars. We will not be making exceptions for anybody unless I receive a written note before tomorrow night. I did not want you to catch off-guard," She said in a bland, authoritative tone.

There was a flurry of activity as everyone widened their eyes, shifted their feet but before anyone could ask any question about how, when, where, Cordelia had gotten up, extricated her fingers from Tom's and declared, "That is all and I shall take my leave, right now. Tom wished to speak to all of you regarding the next court meeting."

Tom had gotten up as well. Cordelia waved her wand and the shimmering ward disappeared and Tom waved his in an intricate pattern and the ward was replaced.

Evelyn could not comprehend what was happening as Tom went to one of the walls and gave out a distinctive hiss and the wall went back inside to reveal a secret passage, right into the heart of the room, right through Burke and Ogden's wards.

"Adios," Cordelia waved her arm and before all of them could react, she had stepped into the tunnel and the wall was back in place.

"It will lead to Slytherin dorms, directly." Tom assured the concerned cousins.

"The Court meeting is on next week, why the urgency?" Bones asked curiously.

"We are not discussing the agenda, Heir Bones. Cordelia will be present for that conversation." Tom simply replied.

His eyes were fixed on an intricate pocket watch. Evelyn distinctly caught the sheen as a dark blue hand moved. Satisfied, Tom placed in inside his robes.

"I wished to discuss another issue with all of you in regards to the court." Tom looked at everyone expectantly.

Abraxas just needed the chance, "We don't wish to be compliant but Cordelia insisted—"

Tom's raised hand in a gesture to stop immediately silenced him.

"This is what we need to discuss," Tom said gesturing towards Abraxas.

That was everything that Charlie needed, "Oh, thank God, somebody out of the two of you has sense. She just does not see that—

"Charlie," Dorea held his waving hands, forcing him to stop.

Evelyn merely had to glance at Tom to know. There was a controlled rage in his eyes, "Funny, how all of you are presuming that I have problems with Cordelia and wish to take your opinions on it."

There was nothing funny about it or his tone.

Dorea, Alphard, Zabini and Lucretia's face were ashen. They knew something, most likely that angry Tom was not a good idea.

There was a silence, "No, today's meeting is not to take your inputs but give you a lesson. What you learn today is going to be effectively tested from tomorrow onwards and by Morgana's mercy, I hope you do not fail because if you do…" He left them to their own imagination.

"I do not understand, Lord Slytherin," Ogden asked carefully.

Tom's eyes flickered to him but he did not take in the question.

"What role do you think you have in terms of the court?" He instead asked everyone.

There was a silence.

"Well," Tom raised his brow.

There was a shuffling of feet as everyone mumbled something incoherent.

"What is it that makes you so inarticulate when I pose a simple question when on the other hand all of you keep preaching and pulling Cordelia down every moment even when she request or demands you to just stop and listen to her?" Tom said, his words laced in disappointment, anger and above all contempt.

"Here are all the champions in the court who fought incessantly for women to be in there. Why, just for the sake of being there? Women do not just need to be representatives. They need to participate and you should have the dignity and forethought to not come in the way of that participation. You always like to speak on behalf of the woman, as if somebody gives you the right to do that, as if without communication with them, without listening to them you know what they are thinking, that you have authority on what they think or what they should think. And look at you, getting offended by what Lyra did, getting offended by Lestrange. The degree of your actions might be different but know that all of you still hold the system up when you refuse to let them speak. And you care so much about women, don't you? You are horrified that Avery clings to Carrow, that she does not have an original thought. Look at what you encourage your friends, family and partners to do. How you are always voicing what Dorea would be thinking, how you disagree and lash at Applebee, how you think Gambol is merely chaos and Gore is just a stubborn woman?"

"You do the same kind of violence that you accuse the other lot of doing. You don't get to claim to be progressive; you certainly do not get to pretend that you are so gracious about women's involvement. I have noticed a pattern and today we are breaking it. You do not just commit violence towards the rest of them but towards Cordelia. She is your ruling council. You encouraged her and you have been supposedly happy about it and yet every time she makes a loaded or difficult decision, all of you start incessantly questioning her. Discussion is a different matter but you do not get to doubt her so much, not when you do not apply the same standards to yourself, not when you do not apply the same standards to me.

"You do not know better than her, you are not better at magic than her; you do not understand politics better than she does. There is a reason that she has made a difference in so less a time and all of you but Pritchard is seemingly unaware of that or chooses to ignore it. I remember it Abraxas when you told me your cousin was a sight to behold, when all of you were in awe of her personhood. I do not need you to be in awe of her, but if you engage in any more insubordination, if you get patronizing…you won't like what happens next, because I will not like what you do just like I have not liked it in the past few weeks.

"You do not get to make decisions for her. You do not backstab her by complaining about her to me, thinking that I can rein her in, thinking that she needs reining in at all. She is not a bloody horse. She is not your puppet. She is a person; she is a woman, an absolutely remarkable and inspiring one. She is a leader, a humble one, a kind one. She reaches out, she understands, she takes your suggestions in, invites them in. But that does not give a right to dictate everything or have a say in her decisions. What kind of presumptuousness are you working with? And when any of the women, well not everyone but only Titania, Gambol, Gore and Applebee, protest your adamancy to reduce Lia to what she is not, you turn on them. It is stopping today. It is stopping right now. I understand that as men, and for some of you as nobles, it is difficult to deliver apologies at all. But at the very least, I expect you to show remorse from your actions. I am even more disappointed in the women because they try to play the devil's advocates and undermine their own cause"

"In that case, isn't it presumptuous of you to give us this lecture; to speak for Cordelia?" King looked skeptical.

"No, it is not." It was Pritchard who spoke, his palms on his face as he attempted to wipe away the tension but then met on King's gaze head on.

"I agree with Lord Slytherin. This group has been undermining Cordelia. As men, or as people born in Britain or being exposed longer to Hogwarts, a lot of us presume that we know better. Lord Slytherin is merely educating us. He is our leader. It is his job to guide us when we go astray. We agreed to that when we decided to be advisors. And yes, one could argue that as advisors, our job is to advise but you need to realize that in our overzealousness we often forget that all of us agreed that Cordelia would lead us right alongside Lord Slytherin. It means that she will take our inputs and make decisions.

"We might not like them, we might not agree with whole of them but you need to understand that she has larger goals, more inclusive goals than any of us does. There is bound to be disagreement: as it happens often with us and Lord Slytherin. King, you are the only one of speak out and while I appreciate your bravery, you still have a condescending attitude towards everyone in general. If it were Cordelia giving a lecture, how many people in this room would be butting in before she had even completed a sentence? Almost everybody! You do not fear Cordelia the way you fear Tom. Not fearing is alright, but despite proving to be better than anyone here, all of you still do not respect her as our leader and that is not okay!"

"I agree. And it is not just the men, it is also women who side with men when Cordelia or Lord Slytherin call them out," Gambol flicked her eyes, her eye staying at Dorea just a moment longer.

"I…I…we don't…" Burke was lost for words as he shook his head.

"You do it. In fact, you do it quite often and pretend that it is a joke, Herbert," Tom quietly said.

"She is not making wise decisions, Tom," Abraxas' eyes were ablaze.

"Says the voyeur who not only stared at his sister in an intimate embrace but watched and encouraged as the rest of the school did," Tom mimicked Abraxas' tone, his eyes getting darker and darker.

Abraxas could never stand against Tom's coldness but Tom's statement sent the room in a shock.

"We…we…"Ogden mumbled helplessly.

"I know, I just expected better," Tom said simply.

He turned around and left as his ward faded in oblivion.

* * *

 **Dear Readers,**

 **Apologies for the massive delay. I was well and unwell and it is a long story and I am too sleepy. As a penalty, an interlude will be posted within/after 2 weeks of today and more detailed explanation to follow then.**

 **I hope you enjoyed this and please leave me reviews.  
Katoptris**

 **P.S. Hello new readers, it is a joy to have you on board!**


	41. Interlude 6: Death calls her

**Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Marauder's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

4) **THE RATING OF THE FIC HAS BEEN CHANGED TO 'M' because of slightly more graphic descriptions of violence. It is mostly a safety measure and does not contain anything triggering yet. Future updates will carry warnings of triggers, if any emerge in the course of the story.**

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" **Parseltongue"**

* * *

 **Interlude: 6**

 **Death Calls her**

Cordelia felt the pull in the exact moment somebody tried to pull her in a space of her mindscape. Mindscape was never yours completely. There were pockets, strange places where other entities controlled you. Cordelia as a child of magic was immune to them. Her mind was strong, protected by the strength of pure magic. So, when she felt the pull, she knew it was a deity that was interfering with her dream skills.

She found herself sitting in the dreary kitchen of Grimmauld Place. She had only gone there occasionally to check on Kreacher after the Hogwarts battle and not at all after he passed away. He had helped her consolidate the memories on Blacks but he had been kind enough to do that in the Malfoy manor. The place contained bleak memories, nothing else.

She was sitting on the table where countless order meetings had taken place, where she had seen the plans of the order, where she had heard about the 'weapon' the light had. The Prophecy was such a sham.

She was sitting where she had first sat beside Sirius when she had arrived in this place.

A figure started to appear from across her, right where Molly Weasley had stood up and said the cruel words to Sirius.

It was Death.

Even after years of seeing him, Cordelia still got a kick out of his appearance. He preferred to look like a gangling 19 year old boy who just happened to own an oversized trench coat. He had olive skin and black tousled hair. They reminded her to her hair before her magical inheritance, or that of James Potter, her father. Still it did not surprise her much. What surprised was the harshness and coldness in his voice.

"What have you been doing?" He scolded with a scowl.

"What do you mean?" She asked, genuine confusion in her voice.

Death gave her a withering look.

"Making Tom feel, like I planned to…" She said a minute later, unsure why Death was this unhappy with her. Sure, she was his mistress in a sense but angering a deity was not a good idea. Never a good idea.

"Not that Mistress. Why did you block all the emotions that you got from June? You blocked everything…even your ability to feel." He bristled out every word, especially spatting on the mistress.

"I…."She stammered. Blocking her emotions was a weak point for her. She still was not sure if it was the wisest idea but it had worked well up until now, so her tone turned more resolute, " It has helped me focus. I was a mess and it made me goal oriented."

'Goal-oriented…"he spat.

"What is it with…"She began angrily.

"No, you are listening to me before you explain. You forget that protecting you is my job now. I watch you. I know things." Death began scolding her.

She looked at Death expectantly and nodded, "Go on…"

"You are a Robot. You are checking things off a list. You love Tom, I am not doubting that but you are working with strategies to make him feel. Strategies are not wrong or immoral but June, you need to take your feelings regarding him into account. You feel so strongly about him. Always have. And I know you have been afraid of those feelings. I do not really blame you because they have consumed you for a long time but locking or blocking feelings is stupid and juvenile. You are escaping, running away. And you are manipulating situations around you and Tom. I, for one, got the impression that you had wanted things to be more organic between the two of you." Death recounted his grievances, eyeing her flatly.

The silence pervaded. June just looked at him wide eyed.

"After all, Tom Riddle needs someone to organically care for him, not feed him the pretense of care and love." Death completed his bit.

"I did this, blocking so that things could be organic, okay. The memories of Sid… I was not just upset, the magic of the magicae within me was revolting at the separation from a mate and pushing me towards Tom. You did not see how my magic clung to him. I was afraid that if I did not block my memories, I would end up initiating a bond when Tom was not ready or agreeable to any of it. I did not want to take his choice away." Cordelia reasoned.

"But it did not turn out the way you wanted or expected." Death said simply.

Cordelia met his eyes, and shrugged.

"That is what happens when you dabble in the unknown, Mistress. This was why I had advised you to research till the world's end before you hatched the ritual of time travel. Things go wrong when you do not factor in variables that you cannot see or know about. Not always but mostly. It is better safe to be sorry, and I do not understand how the Hat put you in Slytherin when you are making such impulsive moves that would make Godric shed tears of pride." Death said in an extremely superior and sarcastic tone.

Cordelia raised a brow at that.

"You mortals, you think everything is so much in your reach…" Death said in an irritated manner.

"Technically, I am not a mortal." Cordelia pointed out astutely.

"I see that you have not lost your sass with your emotions. Quite a predicament…" Death said pointedly.

Cordelia rolled her eyes, "Look, I regretted it the moment my head cleared. The overwhelming emotions made me take an unprecedentedly stupid decision and I know that. My original plan was to break the seal after Tom and my majority but if you paid attention to this dimension in a little while, you would realize that a Lestrange stunned me into falling down a few stories, which put me in a magical coma, which has me in this weirdly emotionally dysphoric state all the time. It is a good thing that I am a fine actress and task master.

"Thankfully, my emotions towards Tom were not completely taken away, only muted to a level where I could well, be calculative around him. Now, that is not something that I am comfortable with, but when life gives you lemons, you try and find ingredients to make a meringue. So, I am trying to do all the mind drivel in this time. I know when the seals break; it is going to be really bad. I will start projecting my memories outwards, I will lose sense of what is happening around me, I will mistake the people in this timeline for the people in the original one, I will feel extreme emotions; from despair, to lust, to exuberance, but mostly despair, I will get seizures, as my body is taken over my chemicals from the emotional rush. I know how bad it can be. The best bet I have is prepare Tom for the possibility without telling him the true details because when I do tell him about the original timeline and dimension, I want him to have the complete information. "

"Fair enough, but things are not so great otherwise as well. Calculative moves aside, you are trying to control everything and you are trying to fix him. Weren't you against that by principle? How many times you repeated it to your gang of friends that you did not wish to fix Tom, but love, care for, and help him all the same. Respecting his wishes and trying to empathize with him is different, but being so wary around him, not trusting his humanity, not trusting him to react rationally is not done. You could have easily told him that he was being hunted by Carrow. You could have and should have. You did not want him to deal with it. Why? He is not a child, he is certainly not incompetent. In trying to spare him the worrying, you left him vulnerable. He has the rights to protect himself; he is not your baby. He is your equal. In trying to do right by everything, for the greater good of Tom, you are emulating the man you came to despise, Albus Dumbledore. You do not need to keep so many cards close to your heart. I understand that you cannot reveal all the time travel bits to him and that decision lies with you and is quite wise. But trying to shield him, shelter him from everything is not how Tom is going to grow or learn."

"I know! Which is why I stopped and confided in him. He, he knows I am a magicae. I told him about the Black luck. I also discussed contacting the Veela and goblins with him at great length and reached a decision. I also, in a roundabout way, tried to make up for the surveillance he has been under because I have studied his life. He has the watch; he can look up what I am doing any moment. I understand that loving is a two way street, Azrael!" Cordelia banged her fists on the table.

"It is a two way street indeed, Cordelia and I never denied that you know that. But giving him power over you is not the only way we trust partners. We trust them to take care of us, be there for us, even when we are in the wrong. You do not have to do all of this alone. The world is a big, bad place for Tom. But it is also a bad place for you; despite your powers, knowledge and an intimate directory of future events. You will burn out this way. You cannot keep taking care of everything but yourself. And you really need to trust and reach out to someone who can empathize," Death asserted gently.

"He will hate me…" She whispered faintly.

"You are giving him very little credit, then. He loves you. The past few months have been a good example of that. He does love you. Now, I am not denying that this will be an exceedingly hard conversation; that telling him is going to take courage and most of all, time. I am not denying that you will need some solid proof and grounding to convince him of your origins and story. But I believe that your intentions would take less of an explanation. However, that does not mean that you cannot confide in the little things, small fears, and pain for things apart from his and your relationship…"

Cordelia's eyes were wider.

"You were scared at what happened with Greengrass. You were expecting questions on your character, but you did not think that someone would reduce your physical affections with Tom to vulgarity. You felt vulnerable; you were so glad that Tom was there. So very glad….did you confide in him at all? He sensed it, that much I know. But he did not hear it from you, what his gesture meant to you?"

"He felt it…I did not say it but he felt it." Cordelia's voice was stronger.

Death's face was impassive.

"I clung to him. I held his palm and fingers so closely that I may as well have used a permanent sticking charm…"Cordelia spat out in anger.

"You are not happy about that, though?" Death asked.

"I. Don't. Know. What. To. Think," Cordelia said exceedingly slowly with gritted teeth.

"Didn't you wish his love, his care?" Death asked.

"It is not that simple," Cordelia cried out.

"What is so hard about it?"

"What if he hates me? The real me. He is in love with a fictitious woman who never existed. I am afraid that he is going to shut himself off further when he realizes that I deceived him…" Cordelia said helplessly, her shoulders sagging.

"He opened himself up…for what? For being string on the whims of a time-traveler who thinks that he needed saving…"

"What happens when all of it…all of it turns out to be a lie?" She stuttered.

"I will break his heart and this time, Tom Riddle would turn away from humanity because of me!" Cordelia began sobbing.

"Well, Malfoy really did a number on you with his theatrics…" Death looked at her pensively.

Cordelia stopped crying because of the shock and kept staring, already formed tears rolling down her cheeks that gave away how gobsmacked she was.

"See…" Death allowed his lips to form a small, crooked grin.

Cordelia opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again…

"See you have such a flair of melodrama now that it is actually amusing," Death lightly pointed out.

"Very subtle way to change the topic and stop me from crying, Azrael…" Cordelia said blandly, fixing him with a glare.

"What can I say, it worked…" Death gave her a superior look.

"My concern in real, so is my fear," She asserted.

"They might be real, just like suspicion often is. But like suspicion, you will also find that your concern and fear might be unfounded and a result of your paranoia and pessimism," Death said gently.

"When did you turn to believe in happy endings?" Cordelia snapped.

"I don't. I am just incredibly good at judging people now and I know Tom Riddle is a lot of things but I just don't see him reacting the way that you are anticipating…and I have seen a lot of humans, potential and actual psychopaths included," Death stood up on his toes as he said bemusedly.

" He is not a psychopath," Cordelia said aggressively.

"He has the potential to be one?" Death questioned, "according to you, at least. That's what you are trying to prevent in a way, aren't you?"

"No, I am just trying to teach him that he has other choices besides his destructive path. He can still choose the destructive one. That is upto him, entirely. I am just giving him a way out if he wants one…" Cordelia admitted.

"So gracious all the time, mistress. One would think that after giving up your entire life and universe and time for him, you would have certain expectations?" Death probed.

"I gave things up so that he does not have to…I took all the expectations of the world so that he does not have to…I gave up my life, my friends, my family, my world, so that he has a chance to know what all they are…so no, I do not expect things out of Tom, Azrael. He has been deprived of basic humanity for too long. I did not come to this world to take. I came here to give, out of my own volition. Tom did not ask for this, any of this. So, I do not hold him responsible for reciprocation. I do not hold him responsible for understanding what this entire thing has cost me. I certainly would like it if he does not hate me, if my love means more to him. But I cannot and will not blame him if he does not see things my way. He is free and he will always have me looking out for him, even if he hates my every fiber of being. .."

"I was just checking if you remembered your convictions clearly. I don't want you to take steps that you come to regret, especially because you have given up so much. All the best, mistress. Tell magic I say hi, she is close to bursting out of you!" Death smiled genially and disappeared.

As did Grimmauld place.

****4

 **Dear Readers,**

 **As promised, the interlude is up. Sorry for the delay, things just have been too much of a roller coaster.**

 **So, well, as people probably guessed, I am in a Univeristy and this was my final year. So, last few weeks were quite hectic. But hoorah, I graduated. Had my convocation and all that….staying back and working with my mentor on a research project. My health was also a bit of wonky coz my new doctor was cutting down my meds seriously.**

 **But good news, he has me on several supplements (that work as preventive medicine for migraines) and has cut down on my serious side effects meds almost completely. And I am doing much better!**

 **However, this does not mean that I am not pressed for time. I will be applying to PhDs this fall and application procedure is a nightmare. I am also working on research and all that, so I am sorry but I cannot promise more rapid updates. We will be sticking to the monthly schedule, though. My world building and planning is completely done but writing aint't very easy but I have lately started using commuting as a good time to write, so fingers crossed.**

 **Next update: Within a month**

 **P.S. Can people guess what the next chapter would be about? I think I left a pretty decent hint here!**


	42. Chapter 35: Alke Mars

**Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Marauder's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

4) **THE RATING OF THE FIC HAS BEEN CHANGED TO 'M' because of slightly more graphic descriptions of violence. It is mostly a safety measure and does not contain anything triggering yet. Future updates will carry warnings of triggers, if any emerge in the course of the story.**

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" **Parseltongue"**

* * *

 **Chapter 35**

 **Alke Mars**

 **Cordelia's POV**

Cordelia suspected that Tom had threatened everybody in the inner circle, or scolded them or just burst our loud in anger, or maybe his rage had a focused motive. Everybody was skittish. They avoided her and all of them were talking to her she was made of brittle crystals.

Abraxas had not talked to her at all, nor had Dorea, Lucretia and Alphard. She could sense shame and guilt. Orion was always the complacent one and Walburga seemed massively frustrated with everyone.

There was certain smugness in Gambol and Gore. Their interactions had not changed in the least with Cordelia. In fact, they were the only ones who were still normal. They did however seem friendlier around Tom. But as such their interactions had always been limited to a wave or a smile with them. Titania and Burke had withdrawn. She sensed a massive guilt in Ogden and Bones, even Sebastian and Charlie. Shafiq was reduced to giving respectful nods. He and Pritchard were spending some time together. Prince was as aloof as ever, with perhaps a slight hint of smugness. Cordelia actually saw her sitting with Gambol and Gore willingly in library.

She could not say that she preferred this to the insubordination. This inaction or avoidance was driving her nuts. Once upon a time, she would have liked to be left alone, be in peace. But after being surrounded by people incessantly all the time, she was too used to their juvenile, irritating presence.

Worst of all, she was afraid of making Tom angry. If she asked him about what he did or say, he would ask if they apologized or something because Tom was not really paying attention. His time was occupied in learning Parseltongue tricks with Jormy so that he could come up with a better timed shield spell for her locket. Yeah, he was a bit paranoid and an overachiever. Apparently, Greengrass was thrown away little later than he would have liked.

So, asking him was out. If he discovered their avoidance of the issue and that it was bothering her, the whole inner circle was in for another round of his wrath.

She could not have left it alone, which is why Cordelia had been in the Men's dorm post dinner briskly knocking Abraxas' door.

 _"Come in," Abraxas' voice came out through the thick door. He sounded very scattered._

 _The room was a mess. It seemed like Abraxas had spent a lot of time looking at noble histories while the whole Greengrass thing went down. That was the bottom layer of the room._

 _On the top though were pictures of him and her, through various ages, their letters to each other over the years._

 _It seemed like he was going through a nostalgic phase._

 _He seemed to be fighting with a particularly tight knot on his rucksack, not having turned around at all. He had always struggled with them. Whenever he was distracted or tense, he would end up creating difficult knots that he would later get frustrated with._

 _"Need a hand with that…" Cordelia lightly asked._

 _Abraxas dropped the rucksack with a thud and turned around to face her in a lightning fast speed. "Corrie…" He asked with bewildered eyes and askew hair._

 _Cordelia took that as an affirmation, covered the rest of the room in four big strides, picked the rucksack, murmured a gentle spell and placed the now open rucksack on his chair._

 _"Thanks," He said sheepishly, still not meeting her eyes._

 _"You are not going to ask me what I am doing here so late at night?" She gently asked._

 _"Errr…I…Corrie…I" He was losing his composure._

 _"Abe…"She gently touched his shoulder._

 _As if something in her touch broke the dam within him; massive, hot tears came out pouring Abraxas' eyes._

 _"I am so sorry, Corrie….I….I…" His arms started trembling and before he probably realized, he was in Cordelia's tight embrace._

 _"What happened?" She gently asked._

 _"We…I should not have….well, Valentines' day, we all saw you and Tom…well, much of the school did. We did not stop them. Slughorn created wards so you would not realize the ruckus everyone was… we …I we did not stop it…we stood by, laughed and enjoyed the fact that you were together. We did not...I did not realize the invasion of privacy until later…even if I did, I did nothing to stop it...I did not tell you about it…and then Greengrass, those remarks, all of it was because of us…I am so sorry," He was speaking lucidly, choking in between but mostly trying to get all of it out as fast as he could._

 _"I know about it. I guessed as much when Greengrass talked about seeing us. She does not have the subtlety or stealth to escape Tom or my notice without help. My suspicions of a public viewing only increased when no one asked where, when and how the kiss occurred later on. In retrospect, the controlled reaction in the great hall should have also given it away but I was lost in my happy bubble. It was through my speculator notes that confirmed it for Tom, though I cannot really say. I am sorry that I was not more careful," she softly murmured, in between her shrugs and tender embrace._

 _"What are you apologizing for?" Abraxas cried out._

It had taken some while, but Cordelia had eventually made him come to peace with whatever had happened. She had not apologized for the incident or for the fact that Tom had given them an earful. She actually felt that they had needed that dose. Though, she had apologized that she had not seen things coming. She had forgiven him without insinuating that whatever had happened was alright. It was not alright but she was not so disappointed in him that she would stop talking to him even when he was apologetic.

* * *

 **Evelyn's POV**

Evelyn had not partaken in the 'Stay away from Cordelia' regime, mainly because Cordelia had not let her. Somehow, the Heiress Black had very astutely known that Evelyn was not a part of the group out of her own volition and had probably only been there as a courtesy. Moreover, Evie was silent as hell so she would not protest in the least if more powerful heirs were upto something.

Cordelia had brusquely involved her in the planning of the first meeting of Mars. She wanted opinions of someone outside the Dueling circuit or rather someone who did not fancy themselves a dueling ace.

"Stay away from things you do not feel strongly for. They can afford such missteps. They are purebloods, you won't be able to…" She had whispered as Tom, she and Eve arranged the room. She had not even waited for a response from Evelyn.

Elves were around but Cordelia only ever asked for help when things or arrangements were a bit too much.

Evelyn knew that Cordelia did not hold her responsible and from what she deduced from Tom's attitude, he did not either. Bless the two souls.

Titania, Applebee, Gore and Gambol had made no moves to secure their places around the Ruling council and had followed the lead of others: avoiding personal interactions.

In fact, Gambol was seemingly nursing Ogden's pride. Titania was a bit occupied trying to take care of Slytherin single handedly because Burke was moping. Applebee was as normal as it gets. Gore was unconcerned.

The biggest giveaway was from the Blacks, Abraxas, Sebastian and Charlie.

While Lucretia and Orion did not have much hand to play in things as they liked to follow their more vocal cousins, the fact was Cordelia had made no move to reach out to them, too busy planning the meeting for Mars. And as it happened, those two were standing in solidarity with the rest of the siblings and cousins.

But perhaps, Cordelia was letting them know about her disappointment because disappointed she was, even though she had not said a word, too occupied with arranging things.

Now Evelyn stood in the Court rooms in one of the unused rooms; The Dueling arena.

The room had been a disaster; filled to the brim with broken furniture, dust kegs, spider webs, doxies. It had taken some while for the elves to clear it out, even with Cordelia's able and resourceful wand.

Tom had come in later as they transfigured the furniture and ranged it to make it into a proper scene.

Today it was mostly bare: just a singular dueling platform that would also work as a stage and numerous cushioned stools in its front and a lot of standing room behind it.

Mostly women and younger years sat. It was fairly crowded. One side had a small desk of refreshments, manned by the first years. They were only allowed as observers until their second year but Cordelia had said that they could help out in other ways if they wanted to.

So, Parish and Higgs were manning the refreshment counter.

Adam Abbot was holding up a basket for people to pick a chit from. Daniel Greengrass and Wylda Macmillan were taking the different colored ones and depositing and counting.  
Evelyn had no clue what this was about and she had said so when Zabini had asked.

"But, weren't you arranging things with them?" He heatedly whispered.

"She had a separate meeting with the first years. Evelyn was merely taking care of the aesthetics, I believe," Titania rescued her.

"She cannot ignore us forever, can she?" Alphard whispered worriedly.

"I hope not. Burke is insufferable when he is morbid…" Titania languished.

"Where is Abraxas?" Charlie asked anxiously.

"I saw him around," Orion said, a little puzzled, "We came together."

"Yeah, I believe I saw him too…" Titania said distractedly.

As Walburga was about to burst in irritation, Orion said, "Oh, yeah, look there he is.."

He pointed discreetly towards the stage and trailed off in confusion, "Near the stage, chatting with Cordelia."

It was a cozy scene, like any Abraxas, Cordelia scene. They were chatting and laughing happily, like nothing had went down.

"When did they make up?" Dorea looked aghast, "Did he already apologize? Without us?"

"That is not fair. We were supposed to express our remorse together. Even Titania and Gambol have not approached Tom and Corrie yet and Abraxas is…"Charlie appeared hurt.

"Well, they have always been closer, Charlie. Closer than Cordelia has been to any of us…" Dorea tried wrapping her mind around it.

"That is not much of a surprise. They practically grew up together. Now tell me, Dorea. If you are in need of help, would you seek out Heir Gamp or me and Lucretia…."

"Of course, you…"Dorea said confusedly.

"Exactly. You grew up with us, not Heir Gamp. Cordelia grew up with Abraxas. When his mother was ill, he lived in France at his Aunt's. They are almost siblings in that sense. Corrie likely seeked him out. She has always mothered him. So, stop being melodramatic…"

"Err…yes, Rosier did mention that he saw Cordelia in the boys' dorm last night," Zabini said.

"Yeah, she only came down around midnight. I would have thought she was studying with Tom but he does not live there any more, does he?" Titania sighed.

"And he has been running errands for Cordelia since 6 in the morning. I doubt he had time to inform everyone…" Alphard added.

"You did not think it was relevant to mention that Corrie asked him to run errands?" Dorea admonished them.

"She did not. Greengrass did…" Zabini informed wryly, "He asked if Abraxas could help him out with something about the kitchens."

"It is not a conspiracy, Dory. I know you don't like it when Cordelia gives anyone a cold shoulder…" Walburga began.

'It is not that….I just don't like it that she will not talk. Her screaming, yelling, scolding I can take…this…"

'Well, she has always had a particularly good cold shoulder. It makes everybody lose their mind. Remember how hard Grandfather Regulus scurried around trying to make it up for her," Lucretia said.

"Coupled with the fact that we know that Cordelia uses cold shoulder so sparingly and with very good reason. It is a validation of the fact that she holds us responsible and in the wrong and she clearly expected better, just like Tom did. It is not nice disappointing people we, you, look up to so much…" Walburga said for everyone.

"That's true," Titania agreed quietly, "That is why Burke is having such a hard time. He knows that Tom and Cordelia are in the right. It is difficult accepting such dissonance, that our well intentioned actions can sometimes hurt someone we care and respect to such an extent…"

"It is beginning…hush," Zabini pointed towards the stage, interrupting the confessions.

Evelyn looked towards the dais. Tom and Cordelia were almost atop and coming to the front.

"Welcome everyone. This is the first meeting of Alke Mars, the combat Wing of Hogwarts court. Mars after a very well known male God, and Alke after the less known female one. A few of you were already verbally intimated that we would like you to be part of this group. Regardless of that invitation, all of you will start out similarly. As is the rule in every meeting, no discrimination or even little jabs on the basis of gender or blood or house will be entertained. Before we tell you how the hierarchy in the group will be determined eventually, we would like to assert that we don't care how adept you are at dueling, you are not allowed to interrupt meetings unless your input is asked." Tom addressed everyone.

"So to be able to assert that, we will do a little demonstration. For the first and last time, we will request you to arrange yourself according to your house. As fast as you can..." Cordelia said pointedly.

There was a little sluggish movement and a bang from Cordelia's wand had every scampering.

"Now we want you to choose your best duelist. Discuss, you have 5 minutes or we will pick a random card about who is the best representative of that house. Remember, 5 minutes," Cordelia directed.

Evelyn quickly moved towards Ravenclaw and did not speak. After much strife, Bagnold was picked. The opposition was mainly because she was a woman. How a woman can be the best Ravenclaw had to offer?

When Gore sweetly reminded everyone of Tom's words, people backed off.

Evelyn personally thought Gore was better suited for the role but Gore never volunteered herself.

So Bagnold it was.

And she had expected; it was Burke for Slytherin, Ogden for Hufflepuff and King for Gryffindor.

Ideally, Gambol was as good as King but less proud, Titania was more vicious than Burke. But she knew that women would never claim to be as good as men.

"Step forward..." Cordelia carelessly directed.

"Are we going to duel each other?" Ogden asked very hesitantly.

His wariness was not only because of the turmoil in the inner circle but also because of how tight lipped Tom and Cordelia had been about this meeting. Puffs did not do well with the unfamiliar.

"No," Cordelia easily replied, "That would not achieve anything!"

Ogden looked relieved. Burke was as stoic faced as ever but there was a flicker of worry in him. Bagnold looked disappointed. King looked curious and blaze.

"So to achieve the assertion, you will all have individual duels with one of us." Tom added.

Ogden and Burke were ashen. Bagnold looked like Christmas had come early. King looked skeptical.

"You are 4th years," King gave them a rather doubtful look.

"They won every single duel that was thrown to them as a challenge for the ruling council, "Gambol rolled her eyes.

"That was different," King said immediately.

"How so?" Abraxas raised his brow at him.

"Well, they did not really battle out the best, did they?" Bagnold said with a flourish.

"Are you kidding me?" Prince muttered.

"You have a problem, Prince?" Bagnold said dangerously.

"No, I am just wondering just how myopic you and King are…" Prince said easily.

"And how utterly conceited Ms. Bagnold. Both of them did battle several accomplished duelers…" Cassius Zabini said.

"And you are only claiming that because you were one of them Zabini…" Bagnold shot back.

"Enough," Cordelia said quietly but with force.

"It is a wonder how fine and upstanding students turn a meeting into a mindless drivel. To address all of your concerns, yes, Cordelia and I are well aware of our age and years. No, we are not afraid of dueling you. Yes, we did battle and defeat several seasoned duelers. No, we do not think that they lacked anything. Yes, we know that you might still have objections that we did not battle the best. Therefore, all 4 houses have chosen their best for the duels. Yes, you will be dueling one of us so that we can end the debate about whether we are capable of leading this group. We will hold everyone to the agreement that we lead unquestioned, should we win. Is that clear? Because we are not wasting more breath trying to moderate juvenile arguments," Tom said scathingly.

Ogden gave a decisive nod and Hufflepuff complied. Burke just nodded. There would be no outcry from Slytherin anyway. King nodded reluctantly once he saw the reproaching look Dorea, Gambol and Longbottom sent him. Bagnold looked very determined and her eyes glinted and she nodded to accept the challenge.

"Daniel, Adam and Wylda, if you may, can you tell us who amongst Tom and I the random allocation ended up choosing for the battle? And explain a bit about how it worked?" Cordelia requested gently.

It was Wylda who began confidently, "Heir Greengrass and I were in charge of determining which House's representative will battle whom? Every person who entered the room picked a random card that had Lord Slytherin or heiress Black's name. We counted the tally for each house and have determined who will battle who. The cards were made by Weasley and Sinistra, distributed by Heir Abbot and collected and tallied by us to ensure fairplay. Each of them had the same number of cards and it could have gone in either direction."

Daniel began in a similar tone, "According to the system, each one of you would have had a unique choice between Lord Slytherin and Heiress Black. However, as per the random allocation, all of you will be battling Heiress Black one by one."

Cordelia's eyes had a very pleased glint in her eyes.

It was Adam who concluded, "The order of the fights was determined by the order of your arrival into the room. The first one to arrive goes last. So, in that order, Heiress Black will battle King, then Ogden, then Bagnold and finally Burke."

"Thank you," Tom told the first years kindly.

"Questions?" Cordelia did a weird thing with her brows.

"Who is the referee?" Bagnold asked, "And what happens when you lose?"

"If we lose, Ms. Bagnold," Tom corrected her with an indulging smile, "If we lose, we will reconsider the structure of this group with the core group of the four duelers. The match will be refereed by a 5th year that is not of either house to be impartial. The names are…"

"Jackson Diggory for Gryffindor, Kyran Mckinnon for Hufflepuff, Septimus Weasley for Ravenclaw. For Slytherin, we tossed and McKinnon came out." Parish told everyone from the snack counter.

"And everyone in the referee pool already agreed," Higgs added.

"Do we have an agreement?" Cordelia asked.

* * *

 **Evelyn's POV**

There was some confusion and more question how fights were fair if Cordelia was exhausted after every duel. Tom had merely said that if that occurred, it was their problem and not something the attendees should be concerned of.

Next, Cordelia had taken off her Slytherin locket and handed it to Tom. No undue advantage…

Now, King and Cordelia stood on the dais.

"Rules are as follows: no serious harm. The first person to lose the wand loses," Diggory repeated.

Cordelia and King nodded.

"Bow,"

Both Kind and Cordelia were gracious about the bow.

"Wands ready"

Cordelia got into a very active dueling stance. King merely took his out but his eyes got alert.

"Begin,"

King had probably not even moved a twitch that Cordelia had moved as fast lightning and cast "Mucilago adgressus,"

Before King could move, bat shaped bogies sprouted out from his nose and attacked him and his wand fell as he cried out in pain. The bat bogey hex- it was a Gryffindor favorite! To attack and defeat the Gryff rep with it, Cordelia had a really sardonic sense of humor.

There was a loud murmur in the crowds but Evelyn did not pay much attention. She was too awed by Cordelia's speed.

"Heiress Black wins," Diggory proclaimed fairly, but not without a bit of startle.

"So, she is fast. She was not careful. She should not have put Ravenclaw and Slytheirn in end. Those houses learn. Bagnold will use this against her," Runcorn muttered haughtily.

Cordelia had reversed the hex and Adam Abbot had come up with water. Gambol and Charlie took King down.

"Next Duel," Daniel said simply.

Ogden looked spooked. Evelyn knew that that he never wanted to fight Cordelia at all, not because he was afraid but simply because it was Cordelia. He cared for and respected her. His frown was from displeasure at having to resort to this.

But he did take his position

"Do I need to repeat the rules?" Kyran asked simply.

Ogden shook his head as he took his place. His eyes met Cordelia's. Cordelia's eyes were unreadable as she stared down Tiberius, very determined.

"Bow"

"Wands ready"

"Begin,"

It seemed like Cordelia let Ogden fire, because she simply stepped aside leisurely from his spell and send an incarcerous at him.

Ropes flied around him, tying him down. But he still held his wand.

Before Ogden could undo the ropes, another spell, 'Levicorpus," had Ogden hanging upside down from the roof with one leg.

The sudden movement had dislodged his wand.

"Heiress Black wins"

"Too fast…" Caspian Samuel said bitterly.

"Bagnold better beat her. She is sticking to the same strategy," Corner muttered.

"She is not, actually," Runcorn muttered.

The matches were ending too quickly. Evelyn never expected Cordelia to lose, not at all. But she had not expected that the best of the best would not stand a chance at all.

Cordelia was too fast. Before people blinked, her wand movements were over.

She was not using complicated spells. She waited until the hand signal was over. Somehow, her wand movements took exponentially lesser time than they should.

One thing was sure, Cordelia had been holding back drastically in the classes.

Ogden was down on the floor and Cordelia gave him her hand and lifted him up.

Ogden said something gently to her as he panted and a little smile lit up Cordelia's face and she nodded.

She put her wand to his ears and suddenly Ogden was not so dizzy or shaky anymore.

"Third Duel," Daniel looked expectantly at Bagnold.

"The men have been going easier on you, Heiress Black. I will not give you the same luxury." Bagnold claimed as soon as she entered dais, underplaying Cordelia's wandwork.

"I was not looking for luxuries, nor would I assume were they inclined to give me any. Perhaps your eyes see more from above," Cordelia rebutted.

There was a light snigger. Everyone knew that Bagnold was teased for having a head up in the clouds, too high for the commoners.

"Let's hope you are as quick with you wand as you are with words, Heiress Black," Bagnold shot back. Now, that was a poor move. Cordelia's wand was probably as fast as her words and everyone had seen that.

"You think Ogden and King's testimonies would satisfy your hope, or you need further demonstration?" Cordelia shot back again.

Bagnold's face colored.

Septimus Weasley cleared his throat loudly and started prattling the rules.

"Bow"

"Wands Ready"

"Begin"

Cordelia's spell shot first. It was transfiguration spell.

It took Bagnold's wand holster and transfigured it into a giant, heavy iron baton. Bagnold shot a spell too, but the baton caused her to lose the balance and it went into the crowd. Tom quietly raised a parseltongue shield to contain it.

But before Bagnold would catch her bearing, Cordelia had shot a spell up her nose, "Tergeo" .

Tergeo was a drying and degreasing spell. Lord knew what it would do to Bagnold's nose; probably rid it of all moisture…

Oh my…Cordelia really had too much brain!

And Bagnold went into a sneezing and coughing fit. The visceral sneezing combined with the baton led her to collapse on the floor and use her only free arm to cup her face.

"Heiress Black wins," Weasley said amusedly. He had expected it after two matches, frankly, so had most of the people even though they probably hoped otherwise in case of Runcorn and Corner.

Cordelia reversed the transfiguration and soothed Bagnold's nose.

Bagnold's eyes were rimmed red with water and she looked extremely subdued.

A look from Cordelia had prompted Ogden and Gore to come up to the stage to pick the Headgirl up.

"The Final round between Heir Burke of Slytherin and Heiress Black," Daniel announced.

"Do you think she will go savage on him?' Gore asked Evelyn with excitement.

"Errr…" Evelyn lost words.

"I hope she does. Herbert can use humbling…" Gore rubbed her palms together in anticipation.

Evelyn mouthed her laughter.

Burke's face was impassive, completely unreadable as he gingerly climbed up the stage.

Dorea was biting her nails. She was really melodramatic.

Titania looked concerned but her eyes held trust. She trusted Cordelia to not dismember Burke, at least publicly.

Gore was mouthing something about how she could not wait to rub this in the face of Burke and Evelyn lost all the protocols that McKinnon kindly repeated.

McKinnon's clear begin was what brought her back.

It ended before it began.

Cordelia was as fast as she had been with King.

She was in air, in a high jump and she yelled Accio.

And for some odd reason, she was pointing towards Burke's shoes. She shoved the right shoe leftward, the left shoe rightward, pulled Burke in the air with the sheer force of her spell and then let the spell die.

Burke fell in heaps from over 7 feet with a clamp. Of course, his wand lay elsewhere.

Cordelia landed from her jump in a graceful landing right where Burke's feet were with a Cheshire grin.

"You owe me 100 galleons, Heir Burke," She said cheekily.

There was a conundrum as everyone started yelling.

Mckinnon did declare her the winner.

Evelyn distinctly heard Burke calling Cordelia a little minx and a right pain in his arse and Cordelia's bubbling laughter over it.

Cordelia did heal all the bruising of Burke and lifted him up.

Evelyn would later learn that when Cordelia was a mere 2nd year and Burke had been in his 5th, he had been cribbing about Accio and how it was a lazy spell in one of the pureblood galas.

Apparently, Cordelia had bet him that she could just use accio to end a duel and Burke had promised her 100 galleons if she managed that.

2 years later, she had fulfilled that bet, by poetically defeating Burke with that spell.

Cordelia had a really long memory.

The groups had mixed yet again as chatter began with loads of clapping

Dorea had found Evelyn and it seemed that other Slytherins had followed.

"That was very anticlimactic. Cordelia was too fast, I was expecting more action," Zabini said over the noise as he clapped vigorously despite his disappointment.

"I don't know, it makes me overly glad that she is just using the silent treatment and is not cursing us into oblivion," Longbottom said with a shrug, as he continued to clap as well.

"Gryffs, always so optimistic," Titania muttered as she joined them.

Suddenly, there were purple firecrackers on the stage.

Cordelia and Tom were very creative at nabbing attention.

"Well, that was not what everyone expected, was it?" Cordelia said gently when everyone calmed down and the noise died.

There was laughter.

"We do not want to leave you with a misconception. Duels are not normally like that. They are arduous, tiring, more effortful and longer," Tom smiled at the last word.

There was another round of laughter at that.

"But that happens when the opponents are well-matched. As the group has not officially begun yet, I would not request anyone else to demonstrate, but as Tom said, we do not want misconceptions," Cordelia smiled.

"Heir Ogden, if you would be kind enough to be a refree, Lia and I would like to demonstrate a duel," Tom requested.

"You are serious," It was Abraxas who stared at them with wide eyes.

"Don't worry, we love each other's lovely face a tad bit too much to cause actual harm, Abe," Cordelia rolled her eyes.

"I am more worried about the room," Abraxas seemingly muttered but the whole room heard it.

"I would be honored," Tiberius smiled and started walking up the dais. There was a conundrum as bets were exchanged, bids were made.

Zabini was whining about how the two had never demonstrated for him even though he ate their mind but Evelyn tuned him out, Anastius whining was nothing new.

But Ogden did not even have to shoot a warning to silence people, as soon as Tom and Cordelia took the opposing ends of dais; the room was a deathly calm. Their eyes did not leave each other. Unlike the unreadable look Cordelia had reserved for everyone, now her eyes were teasing, weighing, reading, and challenging Tom. So were Tom's.

"A simple barricade would do, Tiberius. Tom and I tend to get violent," Cordelia smirked, not removing her eyes from Tom as she got into a dueling stance.

Ogden would cast a simple shield ward.

"The Duel is between Lord of house Slytherin and Heiress of House Black for the purpose of a demonstration of Alke Mars. No seriously harmful spells…

"Debatable," Tom interrupted and Cordelia inclined her head to show agreement to him.

"As you both say, Harmful spells allowed at their discretion. First person to get disarmed loses. The stake is…"

"We will settle it amongst ourselves, Tiberius. Don't you worry," Tom simply said with a smirk as he eyes Cordelia.

"Very well, then, Bow."

They never removed their gaze from each other, as they graciously gave the deepest bow there ever was.

"Wands at the ready."

Evelyn did not think that getting more alert was possible for the duo, but their attention at that command was stupendous.

Everyone in the room was watching with baited breath.

Ogden's own persona looked curious, too eager as he whispered in an anticipatory fashion, "Begin."

They shot spells simultaneously. Cordelia's expelliarmus and Tom's impedimenta crossed each other and were absorbed by Ogden's shield as both of them moved out of the way.

"Ascendo," Cordelia cast on herself launching herself in air and then, "Jaculor Saggita Trium, "

Three arrows straight towards Tom and some people screamed. Tom was going to be impaled as Cordelia began to land gracefully. She liked taking to the air, maybe it was the Quidditch player in her.

Tom cast a clear hurling curse, "Iacio."

The arrows changed directions at a right angle and hurled towards Cordelia's unstable feet as rolling logs.

Cordelia's carful dance prevented a fall but gave Tom extra time and another spell, Relashio came near Cordelia's knees, which also Cordelia dodged and threw a random slew of couple stupefies towards Tom, who also lost his stable footing and had to dodge a couple of times.

"Diffindo," Both of them said together. The spells met and vanished in a shower of sparks. Similarly powered.

None had broken a sweat. Their faces were burnt in concentration but Evelyn could see their eyes. They were smiling. This was exhilarating.

They did not say a spell for a couple moments, lightly panting.

Another series of disarming spells,

Then,

Stupefy, Diffindo, expelliarmus, Impedimenta…none meeting the targets. And Tom and Cordelia did not use a single shield spell. They dodged and jumped and moved forward in a careful dance.

It was Tom who broke the mold and caught Cordelia with a spell, straight in her chest, "Everte Statum"

A powerful spell, it would have knocked the wind out of a normal opponent by throwing them across the room. Cordelia, though, was merely pushed to the edge of the dais still maintaining her footing, her body bent to adjust weight, her wand still tightly in her grasp, as her combat boots skidded across the dais till the very edge.

Her face was downwards, but when she looked up, her eyes had such fire.

A jelly legs and a jelly arms jinx were hurled at Tom, who dodged the one for this legs but was caught in the one for arms. He did not drop his wand though, even jelly-like, his fingers had a firm grip.

"Caudex lignum," Cordelia cast in the center of the dais, raising a round, tall wooden stump.

Tom had regained his dexterity, after being able to cling to his wand through his jelly like fingers.

He cast an immobulus at Cordelia who stepped away from it, quickly hurling another spell but not at him, at the glass pole, "Carpe Retractum,"

A rope flew out of her wand, circling the pole and with the added force and flexibility of the rope, Cordelia grabbed it and jumped off the dais into air, into a wide circle over the spectators, escaping Tom's series of jinxes and shooting her own spells, "Locomotor mortis, Relashio, Stupefy," as she used the thrust the rope gave to circle around the dais and reach him from his side.

Tom hurled another set, "Petrificus Totalus," which he missed, but he cast another, not on Cordelia but on her rope, 'Dura,"

The Rope hardened and was hit with an expulso and came tumbling down and Cordelia would have fallen if she was not that a good acrobat.

She landed on her feet on the dais and did a somersault to contain her momentum and threw a quick reducto at Tom, who used a shield that directed it to the wooden stump as Cordelia stood back on her feet.

When the wood splintered, Cordelia hurled it at Tom who calmly muttered," Delterious" and the wood vanished midair.

They simply stared at each other for a few moments, barely three feet away from each other, now seriously panting.

"Impedimenta," Cordelia hurled.

Tom conjured, "Inanimatus conjures," that made a plain slab which took the curse and broke away. Tom was stepping back, moving to Cordelia's side of the dais because Cordelia seemed to have taken over his side. Backed into a corner, indeed.

"Stupefy, Diffindo, expelliarmus," He cast in quick succession. Cordelia did not dodge this time; she bent her body in a dance as she maintained her footing.

She was murmuring something.

Tom cast another curse, she deflected it.

And then she smiled hungrily and Tom returned it and they both charged . Evelyn could not even keep track of the spellfire anymore, until she heard Cordelia yell, "Lumos Solem" loudly to the ceiling.

Light as bright as sun. Evelyn was blinded; she did hear Tom mutter an obscuro on himself, shielding his eyes with a blindfold.

Tiberius' ward did nothing to shield the effect of the irritating and aggravating light.

Tom murmured moments later in between the high noises that were screeching because of the discomfort. "Nox Summa,"

The room returned to normal light and Evelyn managed to open her eyes. Things appeared darker, but even in that Evelyn noted that Tom was the only one standing on the dais. Tiberius stood with blinking eyes near the referee podium as the rest of the room regained their vision, blinked, rubbed their eyes.

There was another murmur as people searched for Cordelia, wondering if Tom had won. Tiberius looked dazed and Tom appeared a little confused; his eyes also not perfectly right.

Before Evelyn could blink, a dark figure came from the ceiling in a ball and opened up her arms and legs and landed on Tom's back with her wand on his neck, "Gotcha,"

But the fact was that Tom's wand was a mere inch away from Cordelia's eyes in the exact moment, "Gotcha back" He murmured gently and lovingly.

There on the roof was a conjured hanging platform, one that Cordelia was probably hiding on. How she got up there, Evelyn could only wonder.

Next, Tom and Cordelia inclined their head and together said, "Gratias."

The duel had officially ended. What a …what a duel. The sheer energy and the pacing, Evelyn could not believe it.

"It lasted for just 7 minutes," Zabini said mournfully, "Remind me never to anger Lord Slytherin again, like ever."

People did not even laugh at his joke, that is how dazed all of them were.

Cordelia climbed down from Tom's back as his arms secured around her.

Tom murmured another spell, "Flos roseus."

A single, thornless white rose bud came in his fingers and he placed it behind Cordelia's ears, moving away her long, curly black ringlets as he affectionately pecked her forehead. Cordelia kissed him back right under his right eye, near the bridge of his nose with a smile, as they held their hands.

Ogden took that moment to clear his throat loudly and declared, "The duel is tied. Nobody wins,"

"We both won, Tiberius," Cordelia said, her tone a bit reproaching.

"My apologies, Heiress Black, I have lost my words and wit for the vision was too mesmerizing for my eyes," Ogden immediately accepted, his eyes teasing her.

"Or too bright, so sickly bright," It was Gore who said that.

"Well then we shall grant everyone a relief. We meet after the Spring equinox, time and day will be intimated. Dismissed," Tom genially smiled, his arms remaining wrapped around Cordelia.

Well, one thing was sure; Hogwarts had new fodder to chew on for some time…

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

She was sure that Abe had been cornered by the rest of them when she did not see any of them in common room till late evening, when tom and she decided to go for a walk around the lake.

The weather was thawing. Though, it was still cold.

Cordelia had missed the serenity of nature.

What she had not expected was to find the entire inner circle, huddled, whispering together under the large tree.

They paused when they saw the couple.

"Excuse us," Cordelia said promptly and turned away.

Tom followed her cue, his hand gently placed on the small of her back in support.

"Oh, enough is enough!" Walburga threw a fit, glaring at everyone but the couple.

She sighed when everyone gave her startled looks and requested gently with defeat to Cordelia, "Corrie, wait! These nincompoops have their tongues tied and everyone is miserable. Hear us out, once, please!"

Cordelia did not say anything but Tom and she made no move to leave, instead fixing the inner circle with their expectant looks.

It was an awkward conversation for them even though the entire inner circle was not present. It was just the Slytherins, Charlie, Ian and Evelyn. Cordelia could tell how hard it was for them.

There was an awkward silence, followed by Dorea initiating the conversation about the kiss and their voyeurism.

"We were not thinking. We were just too happy. We forgot…"

It was a slew of comments like that. She could sense the guilt, the regret and remorse. However, the silent treatment was not just for that.

"Is that all?" She had asked once they were done.

"We have been questioning your authority, I certainly have. Despite vouching to the world, fighting against anyone who says otherwise, we have been faithless in your capabilities and judgments and it was not respectful or very well thought out. For a lot of us, it came from concern. It was not until Tom's clear demolishing of our illusion that we realized how utterly patronizing and condescending we were being," It was Abraxas who began that. He had clearly been counseling what looked like utterly distraught Dorea, Alphard, Anastius, Charlie and Sebastian.

She had let them speak, express all they felt. Then, she had clarified her position and why Tom was so cross with all of them, why she was disappointed in them.

Cordelia had made it clear what she thought of the voyeur act, a violation of her and Tom's Privacy and personhood. They were physically affectionate publicly, yet it was their choice about how each affection would play out, privately or publicly.

It was not the fact that Lyra Greengrass threw that kiss in her face describing it as vulgar. It was the fact that everyone else in the school cheapened their intimacy for entertainment.

"We should have known better…We will be better," It was Burke who quietly said that.

And Cordelia had made it clear how disheartening it was when people who supposedly loved and respected you doubted you so scathingly. She was not questioning their right to question her or prune her positions and ideas. She just thought that their disagreements were juvenile, childish and uncalled for especially because they only sprouted when she talked, not when Tom talked.

"Well, you are friendlier Cordelia," It was Zabini who voiced that, though he swallowed as he sent a fleeting glance to Tom.

"So, you reply to my camaraderie by insubordination?" Cordelia shot back, "Maybe I should adopt his style then, if that is what it will take?"

They did not like that threat, all of them flinching ceremoniously.

"I am my own person, Tom is his own. We have reasons to be the way we are. I take leadership seriously, so if you mistake my kindness and friendly demeanor for an invitation to exploit me, then that is on you, not on me."

It had gone on like that. But eventually, after a lot of confessions and rebuttals, it had resolved.

Cordelia had sat with Dorea for a while because it looked like her cousin could use it and then she had retired to her dorm room.

When she entered her and Tom's room that night, it was empty but the faint light coming from the study told her where Tom was.

What she saw was Tom attempting to read but failing as he argued back and forth with Jormy in faint hisses which were drowned by the cello music coming from the radio.

When Jormy did a trippy dance with hissing laughter, Cordelia was tempted to join in with a snigger as she saw Tom's irritated face.

"She is being unnecessarily discouraging!" He cried out, pointing accusatorily at Jormy.

Cordelia wanted to laugh so she bit her lower lip and instead asked with swelling cheeks, "About what?"

"I am attempting to learn something I have not done before and this rowdy snake keeps telling me that it is impossible to learn it from a book…"

"Well, she is not entirely wrong. Would you say that you learned dueling from books? I mean sure the theoretical spellwork is fine but the actual practice is necessary, isn't it?" Cordelia looked at him kindly, gently taking off her shoes.

"Yes, but that does not mean that I like it when a freakin snake rubs it in my face," Tom huffed.

"She is always rubbing something or the other in your face. You should learn to ignore her by now," Cordelia tiptoed towards him.

Tom opened his arms and Cordelia wrapped hers around him and settled in his lap.

"What is my heart trying to learn and why is he so bothered by it?" She said. Her voice was curious, but also concerned

Tom sighed, "Ever since I saw that notice, I have been hyperventilating a bit."

"What notice?" Cordelia tried to recall.

"Well, unlike Beauxabatons, Hogwarts cannot afford regular dance classes. However, I believe the board of governors insists that Hogwarts impart few classes on formal dancing in spring, taught usually by Tofty. It is compulsory for every noble family. Until this year, I could graciously avoid it as a presumed muggleborn. Not this year! I have never danced in my life and I am afraid that I will look like a fool next to your graceful self."

Cordelia looked amused but she understood Toms insecurity, so she placed her hands seriously on his shoulders, " You will kill it on the dance floor. Have you any idea how naturally graceful your movements are? And if you are concerned and do not want to look amateur, we can do some dancing prior to the classes. I have managed to look people who have two left feet, like Orion and several others at Beauxabatons. You will be a wonderful student in light of that!"

"There is not enough time! It is scheduled for first week of April!" Tom mourned.

"I dare say that is enough time. I will have you caught up with even some lifts by then," She mumbled wryly, "And I am a better teacher than whatever book you will pick up."

She flipped his book to see the author and groaned, "Not Master Barnaby. He sucks out the soul in dancing. I am certainly better equipped than that..."

"He is highly recommended," Tom looked offended.

"By Pureblood British uptight upstarts!" Cordelia exclaimed.

"You are British," Tom gave her a teasing smile.

"I am not an upstart. I am certainly not uptight," Cordelia gently pried his lower lip open with a kiss.

After their making out, Cordelia had dragged him out in the balcony.

"Put your hands on my waist," She gently said.

"Doesn't one go over your shoulder?" Tom asked.

"That's later," She simply said.

Tom put her arms around her waist and she put hers around his neck.

Next she stopped closer, placed her head on his chest.

"Isn't formal dancing more conservative?" Tom began but was shushed by Cordelia, "Shhh, feel, hear my breathing, like I am feeling your heartbeat."

They just stood still like that for a while.

"Now, sway," Cordelia gently murmured and did exactly that, swaying. Tom followed her lead.

"Dancing can hold personal meaning and beauty for yourself, not just for the spectators if only you stop to consider what goes into it. Anybody can learn the technical steps. Few know how to make it soulful…" She murmured gently to him as Tom moved with her.

They kept swaying and before she knew, Tom's head had descended and captured her lips as they swayed.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

As Lia's body convulsed in front of him, he wondered what should he do. His brain was not thinking. Too much panic did that; paralyze you so viciously that rational thinking went out the window.

They had been dancing, when Lia's face contorted into a painful cry and she managed to apparate herself and him through Hogwarts wards into room of requirement.

He could not see it, knowing what it was did not help too much. He could not see Lia in pain or even discomfort.

"To..o..oom," Cordelia stuttered in her convulsions, her face contorted in a grimace, not from the convulsions but because she could see his distraught features.

"I …a..am..fine. Leave, it will pass," Her last words were still more lucid, her bright and green eyes staring right into his, pleading, as she held his hands tightly.

"Majorities are not supposed to hurt," He parroted back her dialogue from a few days ago.

"For…normal…peop..people…Not…t mag..gi..cae, messy, des..destru…ructive… LEAVE," The last word was forceful.

"No," Tom said clearly but softly, and then a moment after repeated it a bit strongly, increasing her grip on her hands, "No, I am staying. Your magic cannot hurt me. Together!"

* * *

 **Hello readers,**

 **Sorry again for the delay!**

 **This was a difficult chapter to write, mainly because I was having a hard time figuring out good duels and then writing the romantic scenes after the fast paced scenes was a bit meh…you get the drift!**

 **I am not a dancer. Everything that Cordelia says is what the idealist in me envisions dance to be. If I offends/irritates your sensibilities, please do forgive me.**

 **To what everyone predicted, No, her mental shields will not break just yet. Go back to the interlude and give it a reread, Cordelia explains what will happen. This is her majority, things in her brain are even more messed up now! It will not come into play until much later because our protagonist is a strong gal! But yes, no confessions just yet.**

 **The next arc would delve more into the pureblood society and how the noble families came to be and yada, yada (that includes some history of Slytherin!) I have a cool backstory that I have spent a lot of time and brain on, so I hope it will delight everyone just as it delighted me! And well, Cordelia will reveal some of her abilities to the inner circle…**

 **Please point out typos/errors. I will be grateful! Leave me reviews and I would be happiest!**

 **Next update might be trickier. I have an operation scheduled and I am not very sure about keeping the promise of taking a single month. Let's place it around 15** **th** **August maybe?**

 **Toodles,**

 **Katoptris**


	43. Chapter 36: Oh Styx! Ladon is here

**Disclaimer:** The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Marauder's plan .

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.

4) **THE RATING OF THE FIC HAS BEEN CHANGED TO 'M' because of slightly more graphic descriptions of violence. It is mostly a safety measure and does not contain anything triggering yet. Future updates will carry warnings of triggers, if any emerge in the course of the story.**

* * *

For your references

"Talk"

" **Parseltongue"**

* * *

 **Chapter 36**

 **Oh Styx! Ladon is here**

 **Tom's POV**

Cordelia had been right. Her majority was messy. It made the room of requirement entirely dysfunctional for that period. Things kept appearing and getting splintered, powdered, as Cordelia's magic lashed out.

Tom had held her convulsing body down for some time but afterwards, her body had risen to the center of the room as magic enveloped her in a cocoon.

Tom had sat and waited, heard the thrum of magic, watched out if Cordelia was in the slightest discomfort.

It had dropped her after hours, bringing her down on the floor as if she was on a cradle. The functionality of the room had returned and Tom had quickly wished for a bed, which appeared beneath Cordelia's descending body.

Ceremoniously covering her peacefully sleeping form in a quilt, he merely wrapped his arms around her torso in comfort. It was a relief to not see her in pain.

When Tom woke up a few hours later, Cordelia was using his chest as a pillow. He lightly kissed her hair. She shifted a bit but then went back to sleep right away.

Tom was thirsty. He also realized that he was extremely hungry. Just how did Cordelia stay with him all along?

He tightly wrapped his arms around Cordelia and turned to his side, gently placing her on the pillow and rising up himself. Her lips turned to a frown but as soon as he caressed her brows, the creases on her face disappeared.

It was then that Tom noted the elf waiting for them at the end of the room.

Tom was so confused.

But then the elf came and whispered, "What would Master Slither be liking for food?"

"How did you know we were here or that I needed food?" Tom asked. He was sure that Duncan, the head elf had put them up to tracking them but he had to ask.

"Waves of Ms. Corrie's magic traveled through castle last night," The elf said, her ears drooping, her eyes widening, "Duncan be saying that both of you will be needing loads of food. He personally waited for very long but had to leave. Magic spent a lot of time with Ms. Corrie! So, Polly volunteered to be there when you woke up!" she spoke in wonder, devotion, adoration and to an extent, pride.

"Eh…thank you Polly. That is really kind of you and Duncan. Can I have some water? And could you tell me the time and day? I am wary of doing magic until Lia wakes up because our cores are connected," He gently murmured back.

"Of course, Master Slither. It is 3 on a Sunday morning. I is be coming back with water," Polly told him and popped away.

Nearly two days. They had come to the room on Thursday night. They had missed Friday's classes. Missed the whole Saturday and Bonanza meeting. They could not even travel back in time for more than a few hours…

They will have to cook up something.

Polly was back with water in the meanwhile and Cordelia seemed to be stirring. When she grew restless, Tom placed a hand on her gently, "Hush, you can sleep more…"

She opened her bright orbs slightly, looked at him, almost pouted in sleep, rose herself up and settled her upper body in his lap with a huff and made a contented noise.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

She was standing in front of her mirror and testing her metamorphmagus abilities. After the majority, they were completely accessible to her.

She turned a strand burgundy, "What do you think?"

Tom made an approving noise.

"Too dull…" Cordelia murmured.

Next, her hair started growing shorter as if they were going back in her skull until it was only there till her shoulders and a messy, uncombed style quite unlike her silky black tussles.

Cordelia gave him a questioning look.

"You certainly pull the look better than Charlie does," Tom pointed out.

"Don't be mean. I think Charlie still does a fantastic job of taming his hair on a regular basis. I don't think I could actually make them as presentable regularly as he does…" Cordelia wondered aloud, as her hair turned multiple bright, clashing shades; Highlights of turquoise, auburn, purple, bubblegum pink and a pure white strand.

"Eccentric, even for me," She said, lost in thoughts.

Before she could make another switch, Tom had cupped her cheeks and muttered, "You are beautiful not matter the length, style or color of your hair. Why are you so bothered?"

"I am…I am just curious…." She said unconvincingly, her hair turning into Charlie lookalike once again. Her face was in a frown.

"What is this about?"

"Sometimes, I wonder if people only take me seriously because of my looks. What if I was not this 'ethereal beauty' everyone keeps saying I am. Would they listen to me, pay attention to me? Or is it just a facade to scurry my favor, for being able to bask in this frivolous beauty? Will they balk if I don't meet their standard of beauty? If I have a scar or scruffy hair or I…" She trailed off.

"I would love you," Tom said sincerely, "And to be honest, I doubt what you fear is true. You are pretty hard to ignore because of your tenacity and presence. I tried very hard initially…"

"But they keep mentioning my beauty…" She insisted. She was very bothered. Death's visit had squarely reminded her that she had once been Juniper, who was much more real than this façade she insisted on following, the façade Tom loved.

Tom pulled her cheeks closer, touching the wild strands of hair, "They would be remiss to not mention it Lia. This is beautiful regardless of how long, lush they are. Those giant green orbs are beautiful. That smile you greet me with each morning is beautiful. Physically yes, it might be attractive but it is beautiful because you wield it. You as a person, you as this …I don't have words to describe how utterly beautiful you are on the inside. It would not matter… I mean it would. Alluring beauty pulls people in immediately but do you think you could hold the attention of the masses, have them hang on your words, salivate on your wandwork with your beauty alone. It really did not work out well for Greengrass. Some might consider her features exotic and try to garner favor but it is nothing compared to the reverent thoughts they have for you, that I have for you. You think I would have cared for your beauty if you were not so kind and amazing in every possible way… It is not your face Lia, it is who you are that matters, to other people, to me. You want to keep this scruffy hair, keep it. It is kinda adorable on you. People will talk, for a couple of days then stop because those hair do not define you. "

For the first time, Cordelia was sure there was a slight tinge of pink of her cheeks, which Tom noted and kissed lightly.

He gave her a questioning look, "Okay?" to which she deftly nodded.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

Spring Equinox was almost on their head, which meant that Slughorn's party was nearby as well. Tom was honestly not looking forward to it. It was just a nightmare. Heirs could not stop boasting about their family's new feat to topple each other and Slughorn wouldn't stop encouraging it.

He was usually resorted to nodding and agreeing with Slughorn. This time would be different. He was a lord now. Moreover, he doubted that Cordelia would find his simpering attractive.

She was already a bit agitated on it. The only thing she looked forward to was destroying chauvinist and misogynist elements of that whole club.

He had not understood why heirs would actually give weight to Slughorn at all. Sure, he provided an opportunity for networking but heirs had plenty of that on their own.

When he had lightly asked that to Cordelia as they both were readying for the bed, she had cussed so loudly that Nyx and Lux had paused in their play, completely startled.

"We forgot to take your lessons on noble history. I just gave you an abridged version in winter break. I cannot believe I forgot something so crucial..." She looked so disappointed in herself and had her eyes widened in disbelief.

"It is not too late. The party is 2 days later..." Tom shrugged.

"You are not mad at me!" She looked at him incredulously.

"Why would I be angry? We have had a rather eventful time here. It is not like we were wasting any of our time..." Tom gave her a pointed look.

"I suppose that is true. But I cannot believe I forgot..." She was muttering as she picked up her hairbrush and started moving it in her long tassles.

There was a gentle but brisk knock on their window.

"Just who is sending a letter at this time?" Cordelia muttered.

It was Tom who opened the window and let the beastly owl in. It was followed by 2 more owls who carried a rather large casket.

"Gringotts for you," He informed Cordelia swiftly as he untied the letter and handed it to Cordelia.

Cordelia ripped it open impatiently. If Tom suspected rightly, then she was still agitated about forgetting to fill him in complete noble history. She could be very hard on herself at times.

"Heiress Black, greetings...blah blah. Apologies for delay ... protection charm...find it enclosed...oh thank Merlin! I can't believe they were this tardy...Wait, there is more... congratulations to you on your majority... On another note, our Enforcers while recovery property of Gringotts from a smuggling ring found a few key items that would be of interest to you with your ascended status as the magicae. They were set to be used as potion ingredients. We hope you can find or give them a safer home as your prime concern is protection of all magical life... Wow, that is not cryptic at all... Ooh, the signature tells things... In solidarity, Trewqor, on behalf of Gringotts."

"Who is Trewqor?" Tom asked, he was still curious.

"If i am reading the sign correctly, then he is their top negotiator or diplomat," Cordelia sighed.

"So, this casket..."

"Is a parley move. They know that I should respect creatures as the magicae but do I really do that? I have to establish that by reciprocating in kind." Cordelia told him.

"They respect you by sending you something that you value. So, you have to demonstrate respect by having knowledge of what they would appreciate and willing to acquire it for them..." Tom trailed off.

"Bingo." Cordelia pursued her lips thoughtfully.

"What do you think they have sent?" Tom was almost wary.

"I am not sure but your wariness is not misplaced. Goblins have a different sense of risk and danger than we do. Moreover, they love testing possible opponents or allies for worthiness," Cordelia said wryly.

Tom's eyes widened and then he rolled his eyes, "You know I feel like we should test others on their right to be able to test us. That's all we have been doing for the past few months...appearing for tests that every single crappy individual or group has put us through."

"Oh, you just wait, love. Once we are done with world domination, I am going to milk every bit of shit they put us through." Cordelia rolled her eyes.

"World domination..."

"Well, I am the diabolical black heiress. What did you expect me to do? Do good and open a bunny farm?" Cordelia japed.

"You and bunnies? Is that a secret insinuation for a possible present?" Tom's eyes held wonder.

"Oh no, don't even. I shall never forgive you Tom. Bunnies smell wretched. Besides, they will not mix well with an Apophis, the kneazles or the owls." Cordelia muttered as she waved owl treats and water jars to the delivery owls that gratefully ascended to have them.

Tom and she placed the casket on a table in sitting area of the room carefully, removing it from the bed.

Next, both of them together threw a series of complicated diagnostic charms.

"That is strange. The only magic I detect is that of warmth and dryness, apart from the imperturbable and unbreakable charms on the casket." Tom murmured.

"There are several faint cushioning charms inside as well enclosed in a habitat controlling ward," Cordelia murmured gently.

"What..."

"If I think what it is, then..." Cordelia shook her head and simply unclasped the casket using a clasp that appeared at her touch.

"It read your magic," Tom spoke in awe.

"It did," Cordelia spoke in a quiet whisper as she considered the casket. She gave him a questioning look to which Tom gave a hesitant but firm nod.

She opened the lid of the casket swift, yet soft movement.

Two eggs nestled between cotton and silk fibers, along with basil and chamomile leaves and an appropriate warming charm greeted them.

Tom and Cordelia just stared at each other in shock.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV**

"You are skiving history, again?" Dorea glared at the couple.

"Is it really skiving when he does not even know us?" Tom asked delicately.

"Prince, Titania, back me up here!" Dorea said stubbornly.

"What may be the reason for such blatant ignoring of rules?" Prince asked in all seriousness, but the way her lips pursued, Cordelia could tell she had a less than stellar cause for the inquiry.

"I am quizzing him on origin of wizarding politics," Cordelia replied promptly. It was technically the truth; she would quiz him once she was done with her lesson.

"Well, I am afraid my hands are tied." Prince said in a tone of regret. Dorea had triumph in her eyes.

However, Prince was much more dramatic than her regular self so a reprimand was not what would follow, Cordelia was sure.

"You certainly have a better reason for skiving off history than two 6th year prefects who taught canoodling and sharing private time behind an alcove near the Greenhouse one was appropriate justification." Prince continued in a dutiful, serious fashion thought her eyes sparkled in mischief.

Dorea was completely pink from embarrassment.

"What was it that Charles said? Time well spent..." Prince fixed Dorea with a glint and smile as she finished leisurely.

Dorea glared at all three of them. Tom and Cordelia still had straight faces, though smirks could bust any moment.

"You are trouble of the highest order, Prince. And you two are responsible for giving fire to that trouble" Dorea said scathingly and stomped off.

"Well, that went well," Burke looked up from his book with a smirk quite conveniently in the aftermath.

"You are such a coward, Herbert." Cordelia sassed him.

"I would say that I have a high sense of self preservation," He retorted.

"No, self-preservation is what Titania did, prompting Eileen discreetly. She played both sides." Cordelia rolled her eyes.

"Are you accusing me, Cordelia?" Titania asked with a smile.

"No, I am just telling Herbert that he could learn a thing or two from you." Cordelia flipped her hair.

"Now, we must be off," Tom smirked in support of Cordelia.

* * *

 **Tom's POV**

They both quickly climbed up the stairs and landed in Cordelia's study.

It was little different than Tom's. Mostly, because it was less used. The furniture was in similar taste. The color scheme was similar too.

But there were quirks that set them apart. For instance, Cordelia's one section was a mini infirmary/apothecary of sorts. All sorts of healing and daily use potions were stacked up in shelves along with some other healing equipment.

Her study also had more scattered books: about dozen were open on her planning desk, another set lay in a hasty pile on her main desk. Her shelves were also overburdened.

"We need to buy you another shelf," Tom murmured.

He rarely came in here. This was her domain. Even though, he rarely required space from her, he respected her need for space.

"We can scrutinize the decor later. We have a task at hand." Cordelia merely had to wave and a large black board placed itself right next to her planning desk.

"Sit down! This is going to take a while," Cordelia requested as she fetched a stick to point things on the board.

Her teaching mode was a little too serious in Tom's opinion but he complied quietly without giving in the urge to tease.

Three phrases appeared in separate squares.

The first read 'The Beginning of Structured Magic in Britain. The second was 'The Wizarding Council. The third was 'Modern Nobility and Wizangomot'.

"How much do you recall of 9th or 10th century AD from muggle history?"

"Not much. They scurry over the details. It was the savage time," Tom shrugged.

"Well, it technically was 'savage' according to current definitions and interpretations of the word. There was no Britain, no organized or specific civilization. People were migrating from all over. Sickness, death was rampant even in magical people. People were intolerant of magic back then, more so than today. Witch hunting was commonplace. But magic was actually not so separate from muggle dealings like it is today. It was common place to find that the source of income of great many people was, in fact, magic. They just used that magic discreetly, like in potions or their crops or weaponry.

"However, magical creatures had been driven into secrecy for the fear of hunting. Goblins, Centaurs, merpeople especially. They were sentient with their societies and clans but abnormal because though humanoid, they were different, aberrations. Werewolves were abominations in certain circles, even magical ones, but not in others who descended from Rome. That is a fascinating piece of history as a standalone. How our social ideas about werewolves evolved… but that is beside the point right now. Other 'lesser' creatures lived in obscure forests and learned the art of concealment. Or magicals like wizards, witches, goblins or centaurs had to take it upon themselves to shield the less aware ones.

"You probably know the specific history of founders better than I do from Salazar's journal. However, I do know some bits through memories from other magicae. One is that Godric lost his family to Black magic. And he was found at last by the other three. They ran away from persecution, muggles were after them in large numbers. And they eventually found Hogwarts. The school was the first haven and the first structural place where human magicals came together. There was already a tiff of sorts with other creatures like Centaurs who viewed all humans, magical or muggle in similar light. They lost their freedom to humans and they did not like it.

"That is the general sense of the time. The larger question for us is 'Did wizarding nobility exist?' Not really. Some of the families, yours and even mine can trace back their lineage to that time. The Blacks were sworn enemies of Black magic, thus, their name and their motto. Always pure in their magic. Slytherin obviously had descendants who later were succeeded by Gaunts. The name changed but the blood remained.

"There were others, magical clans, gentry 'muggle' families who actually had magic and used it clandestinely so that muggles would not realize . Most of them have not survived to modernity or have changed their names. Like Slytherin changed to Gaunt. The name change can be because of persecution, line theft, marriage. We really don't know. Most of the history was oral and if it was scribed then it was in archaic languages under secrecy spells because written proof of magic was deadly.

"Not to say that these nobility had no life. They survived, some well into 15th, 16th century. I suspect Kemp and Etherbert were one of them as they were vaults I inherited as vaults of lines of earlier magicae, but of course, I cannot say for sure. I have not gone through their records minutely but I think I did see some druidic circles that are so old…" Cordelia talked animatedly and Tom drunk in everything.

She liked to tell it like a story. He thought she would make a hundred times better teacher than Binns.

"But yes, Hogwarts became a culmination of things. The Hogwarts Four were brilliant in their magic but what was empowering was the vision and the scale of it. The Castle has been constructed in pieces through their life, but it was home and it gave Magicals a chance to be together and practice magic without persecution. Their students or apprentices also helped. It was like a giant nice family…" She said pausing.

"But something happened?" Tom knew enough of her verbal cues to deduce.

"Yep, they died." Cordelia concluded wryly.

"Wow," Tom said sarcastically.

"No, I am serious. The Hogwarts Four unwittingly had created a position or beacon of power, which they assumed for several decades. They were people who were envious, there were creatures which were envious and there were several interested parties that wanted part in the power. Some wanted the Founders gone and the old ways back…."

"That sounds very familiar," Tom murmured. It was the exact demand of the current purebloods, restoration of the old ways.

"It does, doesn't it? History repeats itself sooner or later." Cordelia nodded ominously, and then gave him a small smile.

"Go on, I did not mean to interrupt," Tom urged her.

"On the contrary, feel free to interrupt. Engaging like this will only bring insights that will help in political maneuvering, " Cordelia assured him.

If only Hogwarts teachers kept her mindset…

"So, there were people who wanted them gone. There were those who wanted their power through various means, ownership of Hogwarts, marriage into families, and apprenticeship to them. There were some who just wanted their gold. Despite the difficulties these groups presented, the four were fairly popular and had saved great many families and villages and what not, resulting in donations and favors and gifts of all sorts. They had eventually won over Centaurs, befriended difficult creatures, supplied herbs, invented potions and what not. It started slowly, the assassination attempts at their families. They thought it was a coincidence at first. Eventually though, they were forced into hiding. Hufflepuff and Gryffindors changed their last names to avoid persecution. Salazar never married again or had children. Helena Ravenclaw died in a forest in Albania, murdered in rage over scorning the love of Baron."

"Bloody baron…"Tom whispered in wonder.

Cordelia merely nodded with a tilt of pride, perhaps at his ability to piece it together, "He still wears his chains as a symbol of penance. Rowena died first, she had already been ill but grief over the loss of her daughter left her even weaker. Helena eventually returned to the castle as the grey lady, the ghost of Ravenclaw tower. The other families dispersed…I am not sure how the blood of Slytherin was passed…"

"I have not come that far in the journals yet," Tom admitted apologetically. He really hated the fact that a gap from his side was interrupting her story.

"It is not particularly of consequence yet anyway," Cordelia waved his apology off, "Rowena left her affairs for Slytherin who thought it prudent to involve an external party to take care of the assets, The Gott clan of Goblins, whose clan leader will eventually establish Gringotts. Anybody who wanted the founders' money would have to go through the goblins. The other two living ones followed. I am not sure who died first out of all three or what but I do know that the story that Slytherin left in anger after fighting with Godric is hogwash. Reliable sources place that the remaining three of the four decided to retreat out of Hogwarts because the castle was being attacked far too often and they did not want to put the students in jeopardy. I suspect they hoped to return after engaging with the threat outside of the school, but they never could. They died in their self-imposed exiles."

"So, it is through the Gott clan that Gringotts got all the assets of the founders. I have been wondering for a long time, you know. How do we have vaults of founders? Considering Gringotts only came in being in 1500s," Tom murmured.

"Yes, the vaults of founders were the first ones to get established in Gringotts even though there were no takers of it. Goblins have a quaint sense of honor. They will not squander or sell away heirlooms even when there were no takers unless the line has done a transgression towards Goblins. Although, I suspect they are particularly altruistic towards the line of founders because they were the first one to entrust them with such responsibility," Cordelia informed and speculated.

"When they left and died, they left a vacuum of power. They had unwittingly created a space for Wizarding elders or leaders that guided and taught others, parleyed with creatures, provided safe haven. And suddenly, there was no one. Normally, the heirs as it happens in noble families take over the position of elders but they were dispersed or dead too."

"Merlin, Morgana?" Tom gave her a questioning look.

"Now that is an interesting angle. Merlin and Morgana were indeed alive, tutored personally by the founders, they could have become the beacon the world needed," Cordelia said, her tone changing.

"They were beacons though, weren't they?" Tom asked in confusion.

"Merlin and Morgana surpassed the idea of beacons, leaders and the legacy of founders. In the tales of Wizarding world, they are more of deities. More divine than human… People concurred that while sound leadership like founders could be replicated, there will not be another Camelot, another Merlin or Morgana. They were beacons of hope and powerful magic but they were not reachable to the common people, not reachable at all. Founders had a foothold, a keep in the form of Hogwarts. Merlin and Morgana were more unpredictable, temperamental, and otherworldly. You could not count on them like you could count on a leader for your regular problems. If you were being attacked by massive black magic, they would sweep down and save the day, but they were no help when there were problems of harvest or a child was sick or a tiff between neighbors. They were above the normal world, so even though people sung their praises, they could not rely on them always," Cordelia mused.

"I wonder what a priest would say to that. I have always found it a bit peculiar how perceptions of divinity have changed over time, at least for muggles. I am sure they respected and catered to the duo but did they like them?" Tom was curious.

"Yes, and no," Cordelia said with much contemplation, "Merlin is generally well liked by today's perceptions but back then, he put his nose too much into muggle business. Most magicals had trouble comprehending that, primarily because he hid the fact that he was attracted to Pendagron heir. Same sex relationships were not taken kindly in the muggle world and it seems that he probably carried that hesitation to his maturity, being a muggleborn. Morgana has always been a cult figure of sorts, very difficult to please. I would say that she was liked amongst some circles a lot, as she is till date. But mostly, she was a distant benefactor. We will come to them when we come to discuss the Order of Merlin and Order of Morgana…"

"There is an an order of Morgana!" Tom exclaimed. See, there was so much that Cordelia knew. Even though, Abraxas sometimes decreed them useless pieces of trivia, it was really incredible that Cordelia knew so much of the history of wizarding world.

"There used to be until they stripped it away," Cordelia murmured gently, as she opened up her journal and looked at what seemed to be the next item on the list.

"You said there was a vacuum of power and people were trying to fill it," Tom promptly supplied.

"Yes, now the headmasters of Hogwarts were an acceptable figure of sorts but they did not quite cut it. A single lone figure was not sufficient especially because the population of wizarding world was growing and the persecution was not ending. Now Statute of secrecy did not come into play well towards the end of 17th century and while people knew the need for secrecy but there was no law or policy or guidelines…."

"There couldn't be any in absence of a governing body," Tom shrugged.

"Precisely. Now the muggles were divided into feudalistic societies back then, at least in Britain. Magicals were ceremoniously part of that system. There was dissatisfaction though and quite a resentment. Their supposed rulers were hunting them off or were afraid of them. Some would argue, as they do till date, muggles were weaker than us. They were not cut out for ruling or governing magical needs. Hence, began the talk of a magical presiding body. Of course, this reasoning was present in only the elite magical circles, those who were literate and understood politics. As such, there were poorer magicals; farmers and cattle herders who hid their magic behind their normal professions, which brings us to the problem of governance. Do you want to speculate why?"

"There was no organized wizarding society to govern." Tom guessed.

Cordelia nodded, "A monarchy was out of question. Too much power in one person and well, there was the question of who was cut out to be a monarch and who would decide it. On top of it, what or who would the monarch rule? There was much lobbying. By then, through Founder's influence, some families had already been magical for a few generations. A few which had been magical but had remained in secrecy had come out to the magical world. Different Houses, all of which had a stake came together in the first meeting of what has come to be known as the Wizarding council. 28 families, colloquially known as the Sacred 28."

"Isn't that the name of the pureblood directory? Are those families…" Tom interjected.

"No, those families have nothing to do with the original sacred 28. The buffoon who wrote it merely appropriated the actual historical legacy to twist it into a nefarious agenda," Cordelia quickly set the record straight.

Tom hmmed as he considered the information. A minute later, his lower lip twitched, "Buffoon, huh?"

Cordelia rolled her eyes, "It was published anonymously but of course, it is popularly attributed to Cantenkerous Nott, great uncle of Pierce Nott. He is..." Cordelia considered for a moment and then completed, "Unhinged."

Tom raised his brow at the descriptor but did not question it.

"The original sacred 28 had notable names like Peverall, Serpens, Gwenyth and the like. Blacks were also a part but they were not called Blacks then. It was something that loosely translated to Black hunters. Thought the house motto still remains preserved through ages, Toujours pur. The Sacred 28 also gave honorary seats to Hogwarts four and their heirs. Perhaps they thought that a larger council might draw them out of hiding." Cordelia told.

"Needless to say, it did not serve the purpose. At least not immediately. It was a few decades later that one Lord Griffith would come out as Gryffindor's heir and would take over the seat with his blood. Unfortunately, the entire Griffith family was slaughtered in the decade after that. So were the Peveralls, at least in the male name." Cordelia narrated more.

"Are these Peverall…" Tom could not even form his question and Cordelia was already answering, "No, you are not directly related to those Peveralls or you would have been eligible for taking the Lordship. So, Peveralls had 3 lines from 3 brothers. I believe the youngest called Ignotus is the one who secured the status of Sacred 28 and all that. The line of Slytherin perhaps intermingled with the lines of the other 2 sometimes. Gaunt only ever married each other to keep the blood pure."

"The slaughter of Griffith family likely discouraged other Founders' heirs to come forward. In the next couple of centuries, while no trace of Founders' blood appeared, several more families joined in the Wizarding Council. Potters, Ollivanders, Shafiqs, Hywels…The Sacred 28 had followed suit of the Hogwarts Four and entrusted their gold and assets to the Gott clan of Goblins. Other families of the Council followed the precedent."

"When did the totems come into picture? Is it something that Sacred 28 concocted or the Founders? The books on family magic were not very clear on that," Tom asked.

"No one is quite knowledgeable on that end. You will not be expected to know it for the Slug Club," Cordelia assured him.

"Does that no one include you?' Tom prodded, raising his brow playfully.

"No, but as I said, it is not essential right now. We will talk about it when we are not pressed for time. I understand your desire to know everything that I know but as I told you when we were on less stellar terms, it is simply not possible to inform you of everything at once," Cordelia gave him a pointed look, then her eyes turned softer, "I am not saying no and we will probably cover it before Spring Equinox, but I would rather finish this before we delve into a topic that is as lengthy as this one, so let's move on, shall we?"

"Of course, my lady," Tom smirked agreeably.

"Somewhere in this time, the council initiated Order of Merlin and Morgana for extraordinary feats of magic, Merlin for Charms and Combat and Morgana for Healing, Potions and Transfiguration. The concept of light and dark did not exactly exist then. When people label them as light and dark respectively, it is in retrospect and frankly, rather ahistorical," Cordelia had a disdain in her voice, "Of course, it is unhelping that we have a dunce of a teacher for history and that our wizarding culture classes were stripped or that buffoons like Grindelwald presume that they are saving the magic by whatever he has been pulling."

"We should lobby for the culture class in the club meeting. Spring Equinox and all that," Tom said thoughtfully.

"Ahh yes, if Slughorn is going to subject us to that travesty, we may as well use it," Cordelia nodded. "Now comes the important part Tom, for you. Because it was nearing 14th century when Gaunts joined the council and they were not parselmouths then. In 15th century, the elderly lord would take an nth number of wife called Pandora who could speak to snakes, allegedly from the line of Slytherin. They never took the Slytherin seat though. They implied that it was a way of honoring Slytherin, but I think they could not take it because the magic would not recognize them.

"To others in the council, it did not matter much. Council was already divided into factions. While none was outwardly very hostile towards muggles, there was a general sense in some members that they were beneath them, especially after black Death or the bubonic plague. It did not affect the magicals like it affected the muggles. In fact, one of the Malfoy ancestors and I am sure other wizards disposed off muggles under the guise of Black Death. And by then, Malfoys were a part of the council and they had to uphold the law which really did not allow for killing."

"Corruption is not really a recent thing, is it?" Tom murmured.

"Well, he did it with earnest moral code in mind. Malfoys were quite friendly with muggles. In fact, one of the recent ancestors even went as far as to try and woo Queen of England. He did not do it because he could do it to the muggles. I believe it was to get rid of a couple of tenants who were a security risk to the children and women there. Of course, he could have just evicted them but there was an issue with that. I don't remember what? It was a secret journal so the council did not know and I should not have read it considering that I am not a Malfoy but you know how terrible I am at following rules," Cordelia shrugged.

Tom merely gave her a fond look.

"But yes, coming back to Gaunts. They were not as openly disliked or anything back then. It was just later when their unhinged side appeared and of course, people realized that they were just marrying each other. Physical features distorted, wealth squandered…. Needless to say, as they never could take Slytherin seats, they never convinced the Gott clan to release Slytherin's funds to them. But bad things happened to people who went against Gaunts, except Goblins. It was suspected but never confirmed that they were behind the death of Griffith family and the end of Gryffindor's blood. They dabbled in Black arts and thought that Slytherin did too. Bought all the rumors, or gave fuels to them, and as such Slytherin became their deity of sorts. Well, they never did manage to get hold of Slytherin's wealth, not when the Gotts were assembled in a clan, not when wizarding world went into war with goblins, not when Wizangomot formed in 1430 and not when Gringotts opened in 1470."

"Pandora Slytherin…I wonder. Didn't Erin said something about her and how Gaunts got the whole thing? We should talk to her about it. She seems recovered enough from her ordeal against Gaunts…" Tom sent her a questioning look.

"We can touch it discreetly. She seemed eager enough to talk last time?" Cordelia nodded.

"But that is for later. Wizangomot is when modern politics begins?' Tom shook his head and asked, bringing them back on track.

"Yes, all the families plus a few new ones joined in. Honorary seats did not just go to Hogwarts four but also to Emrys and Le Fay. They were so …well, they basically did not care if the houses were extinct, dormant or active. Old blood is old blood. Maybe, they thought heirs would return… But there were over more than half a dozen families which were already out of picture…Peveralls, Serpens, Griffith, Aldar, Gwenyth and a few more. But they still had their seats. The Wizangomot officially has 71 seats for families, 4 for the founders, 2 for Emyrs and Le Fay even since. Which makes it 77. Furthermore, they added 7 seats for wizarding world elders for their contribution."

"How are the elders chosen?' Tom was confused.

"It is usually put to vote like the roster of Hogwarts governor. Which brings my attention to Hogwarts. Initially, the Hogwarts' headmasters were chosen on the basis of previous Headmasters' discretion in consultation with Sorting Hat. Wizangomot, when it came into being, introduced the idea of board of governors. Now, it was met with some protest because well, why introduce something new when the old system was perfectly fine. It was also seen as an outside interference, much like people complained about Ministerial interference in Hogwarts before Minister Spencer-Moon. Thankfully, our current minister is neither besotted with, nor envious of Dumbledore and does not seek to pay too much mind trying to garner his favor or discredit him."

Tom chuckled at the last bit to which Cordelia smiled and continued on, "But the world was assured that one human was too biased to make a decision and as powerful sorting hat is, it is still an artifact and could be tampered with. I am pretty sure that there is a solid reason for that worry which is buried under mounds of paperwork and has been kept out of public eye. The assurance was that it was not going to create hegemony of noble families at Hogwarts, which was kept in mind and followed. The only three heads of the school from nobility so far were from one each of Blacks, Aragons and Burkes. Now Elizabeth Burke was a bad decision. Very poor decision. She was a blood purist and called her students mudbloods. Her portrait is in dungeons. And Phineas Nigellus Black was just…he is one of the least popular headmasters for a reason. Aragons have always had good, level heads. But others were varying degrees of wizards and witches. Hogwarts, despite different stances of blood by nobility has remained a haven for all, irrespective."

"We will ensure that it remains so. Even if Grindelwald is staying away right now… it is not a stretch to assume that he will look at Hogwarts. Dumbledore is here…" Tom murmured.

"Yes, yes. Hogwarts must stand through it all, tall and yet warm. I apologize for hurrying but we will sit forever if I tarry. Now, the Board of governors has 12 seats: 8 noble seats and the last 4 are elected by the 8 members. The 8 members are permanent for the century, the other 4 change every 5 years. Now those 8 members are chosen by a vote of Wizangomot. Bones, Blacks and Malfoys have always had a very vested interest and have always gotten the votes in the part 3 centuries. The other members have been varied. I know Gaunts were voted in for the 3 centuries they spent in Wizangomot because of their claim of Slytherin blood. I know Burkes were present in 17th century and they are present now as well. It is a very complicated system, supposedly to check the bias, but it is mostly because you can run interference at several levels of voting. The current permanent members you are already familiar with, courtesy of Greengrass, in no particular order, Blacks, Malfoys, Longbottoms, Potters, Bones, Ogden, Burke and Rowle. Now, the 4 elected members can be anyone but you would find that they are generally purebloods, if not nobility. I want you to hold on to that while we come back to Ministry and finish up that end."

"So, the next thing that happened was that Order of Merlin was appropriated on an award for any contribution to magical world and was divided into classes, first second and third. Ridiculous, I know. Moreover, most of the people who get it are politically connected or wealthy or both. It involves a sum of money and a medal. Now, they tried to strip the Le Fay seat. Maybe because she was a woman who was too powerful so it got easier to pin Black magic or her sly streak as evil. They could not strip it because of how the original charter was written. You cannot strip any original seats. But they did away with the Order of Morgana completely. People like Gaunts did not protest much. They really did not like women. Most of the old families except for mine and a couple more, use Salazar, as an epitome of pureblood supremacy. "

"How is that possible, not being able to strip away the Le Fay seat because of a charter? Did they not throw Gaunts out a couple centuries later?" Tom asked.

"You are keeping up. Good!" Cordelia said in amusement, "You cannot strip away a seat completely. Gaunts still have a seat at Wizangomot. What you can do is apply dormancy to any seat with the vote of 4/5 of the house if there is solid proof that any of the original families went against the charter and befuddled the sanctity of the council and Wizangomot. I believe they found muggleborn slaves in their basement after a raid. A shopkeeper complained about their non-payment. Gaunts apparently thought that being related to Slytherin made them royalty and as such normal citizens owed them everything… Aurors went to investigate, were attacked I had found the minutes of the trial in old records. I believe I added it to the reading list of documents a week ago."

"I am not very good at deciphering those documents because I do not know the families…" Tom admitted.

"I know. It is not very important. No one remembers it in a living memory. It took me weeks to find it when I knew what I was looking for. Most people would not know what to look for." Cordelia shrugged.

"So, the way original charter was written, you could not remove noble seats and you could not add noble seats. You could add others, so order of merlin did not just grant gold and glory and a medal anymore, it also offered a seat on Wizangomot. They set a precedent that allowed a maximum of 7 people, chosen in a 5 year cycle to take it over. And now you know why winning an order of merlin matters in the nobility, it could potentially give one family two seats. The most recent family to have it was the Shafiqs and they ousted Kamaal Shafiq within 5 years, too afraid by the two votes the family wielded. Others like Madam Marchbanks have had been there for years. Even my grandmother Melania was there for a decade. She was not kicked out. She stepped down because of her poor health. But the point is that it was possible to add members outside of nobility into the Wizangomot. They do not get into nobility itself which means nobody gets dynastic permanent seats. Now, the wizarding council still existed and it had no such clauses about new seats except that no family could have more than one. They were still inducting new members as nobility and the old members, well; some of them were affronted at it. Their ancestry, history, so much of their life had gone in shaping the council, shaping the wizarding world and suddenly, newcomers came in and thought they had the same footing as them."

"Morgana forbid that happens, how can we accommodate newcomers? It is not like it is their world too," Tom said sarcastically, though it came out from a far deeper resentment.

He may be old blood now but he was still a newcomer in many senses.

Cordelia had gotten up from her seat and took his hands in her, gently squeezing them.

"I am fine. It just irritates me a lot," He muttered gently.

She gently kissed his head, "Me too. And no, you don't have to be fine. It is unfair."

Tom gave her a small smile.

"Well, the wizarding council did admit new nobilities but that did not mean an automatic induction into Wizangomot. So, even though those families came into fold, they could not affect laws, or actively influence anything. Those families will be eventually called purebloods, not noble, but not quite at par with muggleborns and half-bloods. There was a sudden influx of them in the 1500s and 1600s with more coordinated research into healing and sustenance. Families and names did not die out easily. There was also population increase, which led to new family names and just a general increase in numbers. Muggles had established their own nobility and clergies in parallel. By 1600s, there were some hints of industrialization and just better living quality and more food. We had a population boom. We had better contacts across seas with better muggle ships and the like. Even apparition and portkeys need to know that a location exists before they come into play. Things, places and traditions were discovered. Things went beyond magical survival. And that led to establishment of Department of Mysteries, exactly where Ministry of Magic is currently."

"Wait a minute; the DOM actually precedes the Ministry?" Tom asked in disbelief.

Cordelia nodded indulgently.

"And they wonder why it has so much autonomy! It existed and was needed before the Ministry so naturally it will get away with stuff…" Tom huffed.

"Do not mind the plebeians, Tom." She said in a sing song voice.

"The next big thing was formation of International Confederation of wizards in 1660 and the first task it took up was the International Statute of Secrecy in 1690. Till date, the representative of ICW is from Wizangomot and not Ministry employed diplomat. In 1707, Ministry of Magic was formulated and it took over most of the administrative functions. Wizangomot still served as the executive and the judiciary. Wizarding Council deemed obsolete and basically functionless, was disbanded."

"Giving Nobility a lot of power." Tom pointed out.

"I am pretty sure nobility was planning to disband the council just for that." Cordelia concurred with him and then she asked, "Do you get now why Wizarding nobility is so sought after? It is because unlike the muggle counterparts, they make laws, they interpret those laws and even punish or penalize people according to the law. Officially, Wizangomot is in liaison with the Department of magical law enforcements but the truth is the department does nothing but look after the administrative functions; paperwork, and actual maintenance of the decrees and laws that Wizangomot passes. Nobility is powerful. The people and heirs we study with including both of us will be creating laws, passing judgments; which is why it is not surprising that Slughorn's influential club is dominated by them. But I believe your question was the other way around; why nobles even consider being part of it? Simply, Slughorn is a noble family. Not as rich or powerful or influential but pureblood and with a vote in Wizangomot. He is still the not the lord though. His father is alive but barely. Slughorn is expected to eventually take over as a lord or appoint a proxy. He has also shown no inclinations to marry or procreate which begs the interesting question of his heirs."

"People are hoping that they would be named the heirs, giving them two permanent nobility seats?" Tom did not seem impressed.

"Slytherin might be notoriously ambitious but practically all of nobility floats the same boat in terms of ambition regardless of the houses. But sadly for them, their research into Slughorn family trees is misplaced. The current lord Harduinus had a sister who has a daughter who has children. The title is going to pass to the lord's sister who is not much older than Horace. She is the heir apparent, not Horace. Which makes this whole charade stupid. But the fact is that even people who do not care for the seat will not decline his invitations because they do not have adequate reasons for turning it down. Slughorn is nobility, has magical finesse and has not done anything to besmirch his name."

"I suppose being flamboyant and annoying does not count," Tom said it as a statement.

"Nope, Smiths would have never lasted otherwise." Cordelia merely smiled.

"So, our potions masters is not the heir apparent." Tom found great amusement in that.

"Old Sluggy was never keen on politics. He enjoys a life of comfort and he quite likes his aunt. He willingly gave up the title to her." Cordelia simply supplied.

"Is this one of the tidbits your Aunt Cassiopeia kindly supplied?" Tom asked curiously.

"Yep, this made me value her methods even more." Cordelia smirked.

"I get why you wanted an intelligence department. These little tidbits are game changers…" Tom nodded thoughtfully.

"So 71 noble families…even though some have died out like Peverall." He murmured.

"No really, about 37 families are extinct not just a few. Well, 35 if I discount Gaunts and Slytherin but those seats are still inactive despite being claimed."

"That's a lot of power for 40 families! I had just presumed that a lot of families no longer had heirs in Hogwarts. You know too old or too young…" Tom's eyes were wide.

"It is; which is why Grindelwald is trying hard to solicit them to his cause. The 40 families essentially rule Britain. The Minister has powers but she or he are just figureheads and one person with no potential dynasty behind. They can be set aside or replaced with more compliant people. Moreover, he is trying to insinuate that he can maintain the extant status of the families, prevent the extinction that other families befell."

"He is using the 1771 clause against Dark Magic produced by the Ministry of Magic which incriminates a lot of magic that old families practice. It was Maximillian Crowdy who pushed it through and it remains the one thing that makes me dislike the man. He was a very sound person but his tenure saw a lot of pureblood supremacy attacks on muggles. He routed them all out bit by bit. The attacks made him wary of the nobility who did not do anything in his opinion. He thought the punishments that were handed out were very light. But there was no muggle protection act back then, or using of magic was not restricted. All they could be charged was for breaking the International Statute of Secrecy and each received the maximum imprisonment it could lead to: 2 years.

"While the nobility gathered their wits and proposed a law that did not go against the sanctity of the nobility, Crowdy had whisperers in his years and he proposed legislation that banned dark arts. Now, no Minister can pass legislation without Wizangomot. He had a way around it. To achieve Quorum, you need at least 7 noble families. He planned the presentation and vote such that most nobility was off somewhere. He added it as an emergency agenda and it was called the Protection of magical interests act. No noble blinked an eye or returned to see what the act was about.

"Crowdy is also a noble but staunchly light family. One vote was his. Smiths were there, bribed. The Notts were there, but it was a new lord with not enough footing to sway people. He voted against the bill. Ollivander, voted against and Slughorn and Dupont abstained. The last family to fulfill the quorum was Hywels, notoriously neutral. They always abstained from any legislation that was even slightly controversial. There were 14 other members from Order of merlin and elders bit and Minister of Magic and his Senior undersecretary. 13 voted for the bill. 15 on 20 votes was a good number. Shortly, the bill passed.

"Nobles returned to find that their use of magic was massively restricted. It was a brilliant strategy, almost Slytherin. Nobles thought Crowdy betrayed his own house Hufflepuff by being disloyal to the nobility. He paid the price eventually. Died in his office in mysterious circumstances. The word around was that Notts along with a couple more families decided on an assassination. Of course, the investigation was really sparse though portrayed as thorough.

"It also cost Hywels a lot. They were too wealthy and could wiggle out of any dark magic charges so it made them decide to not care about the rest of the nobility. Now, nobility was tired by the extreme neutrality. The inaction caused unrest but of course, Hywels were untouchable. A rogue dark lord hunted the family to extinction from criminalizing his magic. He did not have family left; he did not care if he got hurt. He killed the last child in cold blood and laughed wildly when the aurors picked him up. He got the veil but he also successfully eliminated a noble family out of spite. The nobles punished the dark lord as befit the law but none of them lifted a finger to help the Hywels when they were being hunted down, mostly because Hywels did not ask for help. I am sure families that value honor, like Potters, or Bones or Odgens or even Weasleys would have helped out even when they considered the inaction bordering on dishonor."

"I would say it is horrible but I feel that they deserved it." Tom scoffed.

"You agree with most of the nobility then," Cordelia informed him and closed her journal, "and that concludes why dark arts is a thing and illegal."

"Laws can be repealed. Why did they not do that? They could have had majority and…" Tom questioned.

"Crowdy foresaw that, so he pushed the law as a statis law, untouchable for the next century. And what happened in the century defined dark arts as so evil that it was a political suicide to even consider it after 1870. The Dark lord that hunted Hywels was one. The other were Gaunts. The nobility had kept it all hushed up. So hushed up. But soon every Black deed of Gaunts was portrayed as dark arts. Suddenly, everything bad was being labeled as dark arts. The Ministry gave a definition in the law that is so vague that it can be interpreted as anything and suddenly every murder, every thief, every old artifact was dark arts.

"They implied that dark arts was destructive. A century worth of information in public and even nobles like Longbottom, Bones, Macmillan, Potter etc. bought it. They did not shun the dark families per say but it caught their imaginations. Magic could be inherently evil, is what they decided and suddenly, dark arts were hated by some 8-9 families. A similar number did away with practicing it. That is almost half of the nobility. And because years had passed with the law, it was almost treasonous to speak against it. The law itself is not too restrictive. It gives room for a lot but it started a wave of propaganda that ostracized the dark. It did not matter that Dering family was hunted by a pureblood with no dark ties. Because the act was destructive, it had to be allegorized as the genocide of Hywels."

"Do we have a Crowdy at Hogwarts?" Tom questioned next.

"No Chadwick is going to be 9 next year. The other two Crowdy's are a baby and a toddler. And while the whole legislation may seem like a scheme worthy of Slytherin, Crowdy's are Hufflepuffs. However, since Minister Crowdy's assassination, the family is subdued and does not engage in very open debates. They are active in philanthropy but they usually follow House of Bones in the voting of legislation," Cordelia dutifully filled him in.

"Are you using Leglimency on me or something? You answer things that I have not even asked you yet…" Tom looked a little irate.

"No, I just know you better than you think I know you." Cordelia threw back at him, "now could you wait for the explanation on totems, I am awfully tired. As much as the history is fascinating, bombarding it or being bombarded at is tiring…I suggest we have some dinner, take a hot cuppa and turn in…"

"I cannot argue with the latter and for the first one, I must up my game if I am becoming so predictable…" Tom teased.

But then Cordelia opened her arms in an invitation, though her look was pleading enough and Tom got up, lifted her into a hug.

* * *

 **Cordelia's POV: scene continued**

There was nothing like being buried in Tom's chest, smelling his essence, tangling his soft hair at the end of a long day. This was a strange world and time but when he gave in to her desire to be embraced, looked forward to it much the same, kissing her hair, holding her firmly, it was almost like she was at home.

She did not know who she was but if you asked her where she belonged. She would not take a second to say 'with Tom'.

Then she felt Tom's cool fingers caressing her cheeks, no wiping them…when had she begun crying?

She looked up into his concerned eyes and croaked out a 'Thank you'. His confusion did not dissipate, if anything, his hold got tighter, his eyes more frantic.

"That day, Greengrass…I held my own. I have always held my own, back at beauxabatons. As sharp tongued Colette is, she was never once brave enough to stand up…I was alone in it, Tom. I was prepared to be alone this time. Thank you for not leaving me alone. Thank you for not giving me the looks my parents and Uncles gave me. I needed help and support, not pity and you gave me just that and I know you know how I felt, coz you felt it, but I have been meaning to say it…but I falter each time. There is always something more pressing. Well, nothing is more pressing than you knowing that I needed you and that you were there, so exceptionally and wonderfully there and I can never admit how much I loved you then and how much I love you now…"

Tom's lips were on hers. And Cordelia knew that she would thank Azrael hundred times over for driving sense into her the next time he visited.

A couple hours later when they were sipping hot chocolate and Tom had peppered every inch of her face with kisses and promises to be always there for her the way she needed because there is nothing else that he would do, he could do, loving her as he did.

She had changed into her nightclothes and she had not even pretended to go into her own room tonight. It was foolhardy but she was content near Tom.

Jormy burst into the room with exuberant hissing, "The hatchlings are coming…."

Tom and she all but ran to the nursery settling in front of the nest they had created in front of the small fireplace with a running fire.

The two white eggs cracked, one faster than the other.

The faster one threw off a piece of eggshells hard and Cordelia saw black eyes and dark scales from the gap it left.

She hissed, " **Styx, come out little one…** "

And Styx listened and a few more eggshells were thrown around much to Tom's amusement.

The other egg finally managed a big enough crack and even though Cordelia knew the coloring of the being inside, it were a relief to see green and yellow slited eyes first, " **Look Styx, Ladon is coming out too…** "

* * *

 **Ah, it has been far too long. I cannot give enough explanations without sounding repetitive but my health always holds me back.**

 **Thank you for the patience and surprisingly, no flames! I am lucky to have readers like you all.**

 **The chapter was a crucial one to establish nobility's role and the perception of dark arts. I hope it was not too dreary.**

 **And joy, Cordelia will have her own familiars now…more on what they are and everything next time.**

 **Let's place the next update in middle of December or somewhere? I do not want you guys to wait needlessly.**

 **Love and hugs,**

 **Katoptris**

 **P.S. Reviews! Can't wait to hear from you all...**


	44. author note: no, this ain't abondoned

A/NSorry, this is not an update of story but an update about life and the future of this story in general.

My father succumbed to a terminal illness recently after struggling with it for a bit. I am well young and it has been a massive shock apart from a world splintering event. I have not published anything since September even though I intended to, with good reason. I am not in an emotional space to write coherently.

That said, closure is important to me as a reader and writer and this fic is not abondoned. I have it completely planned and yes, I do need to write and I eventually hope that I can write sooner than I think. But yes, I will come back to this when I gather my littered pieces and even eating and going to sleep is not effortful.

This fandom and readers have been exceedingly kind and patient with me, so I do thank you with all my heart. I hope to see you again soon.

Love,

Katoptris


End file.
